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Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, has long advocated a low-and-slow approach to investing, focusing on low-risk index funds. Buffett, who is worth about $150 billion (1) and is set to retire at the end of 2025 (2), has also said that 90% of his wife’s inheritance will go into an S&P 500 index fund (3).
“There are huge amounts of money that people are paying for advice that they really don’t need… In my opinion, for most people, the best thing to do is to own the S&P 500,” he said in May 2020 (4).
But his relationship with the fund — at least from Berkshire Hathaway’s perspective — appears to have changed.
SEC filings in March (5) showed that Berkshire unloaded its entire position in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and the SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust — two low-cost exchange-traded funds that the company previously held for years.
This is a move that can spook investors and cause them to question their own portfolios.
Buffett did not say why his company chose to completely exit two established S&P 500 ETFs. But there are a number of reasons why he might have gone that route.
“This could indicate concerns about market valuations, increased volatility, or even a shift toward individual stock selection over broad index exposure,” Daniel Milks, founder of Fiduciary Organization & Woodmark Advisors, told etf.com (6).
Collectively, the stocks represented a relatively small position for Berkshire, at just $45.3 million of a $267 billion portfolio. The exit may have been a means of cleaning up Berkshire’s portfolio, which it appears to have done before.
“Given Warren Buffett’s history of emphasizing long-term investing, this is not necessarily a warning sign for retail investors to panic,” Milks said.
Read more: Warren Buffett used 8 solid, repeatable rules to turn $9,800 into a $150 billion fortune. Start using them today to get rich (and stay rich)
Between Buffett’s dumping of Berkshire’s S&P 500 ETFs and other stocks, his withdrawal, plus the growing pile of cash, investors may worry they’re anticipating a near-term market crash. After all, market volatility this year, in part due to U.S. tariff uncertainty, has led many investors and analysts to wonder if the country is headed for a recession.
In the first quarter of 2025, Berkshire also sold its entire stake in Ulta Beauty and reduced stakes in Bank of America, Citigroup, Nu Holdings, Charter Communication and Capital One. Although Bank of America remains Berkshire’s third-largest holding (7), the stock’s performance since the April 2025 decline has steadily risen, surpassing its YTD price (8).
If you’re worried about a stock market crash, it can remind you of your long-term investment goals and your investment horizon.
After all, when you’re investing for retirement 20 or 30 years from now, reacting to impending market events—hypothetical or real—can distract from long-term wealth management.
Planning your financial future over decades could be intimidating, but the right wealth expert can help you chart a course.
With Vanguard, you can connect with a personal advisor who can help you assess how you’re doing so far and make sure you have the right portfolio to meet your goals on time.
Vanguard’s hybrid advisory system combines advice from professional advisors and automated portfolio management to ensure your investments are working to achieve your financial goals.
All you have to do is fill out a short questionnaire about your financial goals, and Vanguard advisors will help you set up a personalized plan and stick to it.
Once you’re ready, you can sit back while Vanguard advisors manage your portfolio. Because they’re fiduciaries, they don’t earn commissions, so you can trust that the advice you’re getting is unbiased.
Regardless of what the NYSE has in store, you can protect yourself by shepherding your money to less volatile pastures. While many investors look to the Canadian and EU stock markets, you can also consider diversifying outside the markets with commodities, real estate and passion assets such as art or fine wine.
Although common investment wisdom focuses on a 60/40 split between stocks and bonds, alternative assets are becoming increasingly popular, not to mention affordable. For example, some advisers now suggest a 50/30/20 asset mix, with the last 20% dedicated to alternative assets.
Here’s a look at some options if you’re looking to tap into this market to give your portfolio a little more protection.
Gold has been on a historic bull run through 2025, hitting a high of around $4,300 an ounce in mid-October and beating earlier forecasts that the yellow precious metal would reach that benchmark by Q2 2026 (9), not Q4 2025.
Historically, gold has functioned as a safe investment in a volatile market. The logic goes that gold cannot be printed like fiat currency and will hold its value better during a recession.
One way to invest in gold that also offers significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Thor Metals.
The Gold IRA allows investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets in a retirement account, thus combining the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an attractive option for those looking to protect their retirement funds against economic uncertainties.
To learn more, you can get a free informative guide that includes details on how to get up to $20,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases. Keep in mind that gold is usually best used as part of an otherwise well-diversified portfolio.
Real estate is another asset with potential growth in 2025. Although some markets are starting to cool, a drop in interest rates could bring buyers back into the game. Real estate can also weather inflationary periods better than traditional asset classes.
If you want to tap into this market, but without the headache of a mortgage or managing tenants, new investment platforms make it easier than ever to invest.
For accredited investors, Homeshares provides access to the $34.9 trillion US housing stock market, which has historically been the exclusive playground of institutional investors.
With a minimum investment of $25,000, investors can gain direct exposure to hundreds of owner-occupied homes in top US cities through their US Home Equity Fund – without the hassle of buying, owning or managing properties.
With risk-adjusted internal returns ranging from 12% to 18%, this approach can provide an efficient, hands-off way to invest in owner-occupied residential properties in regional markets.
If you’re not an accredited investor, crowdfunding platforms like Arrived let you get into the real estate market for as little as $100.
Arrived gives you access to SEC-qualified investment shares in rental homes and vacation rentals, curated and screened for their appreciation and income potential.
Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived makes it easy to fit these properties into your investment portfolio, regardless of income level. Their flexible investment amounts and streamlined process can allow accredited and non-accredited investors to take advantage of this inflation-hedging asset class without any additional work on your part.
If you have equity or an existing real estate portfolio, you may want to consider opportunities in commercial real estate. One way to do this is with First National Realty Partners (FNRP), which can help you access grocery-anchored commercial real estate.
With a minimum investment of $50,000, accredited investors can own a portion of properties leased by national brands like Whole Foods, Kroger and Walmart that provide essential goods to their communities. Thanks to triple net leases, you can invest in these properties without worrying about cutting tenant costs into potential profits. That means tenants take care of property taxes, building insurance and common area maintenance — plus base rent.
Even better, FNRP has closed over $2 billion in acquisitions, with over $145 million distributed to investors.
But if real estate, gold, and other alternative assets don’t fit your portfolio, you might want to consider the dark horse of alternative assets: art.
Like many of the assets in this vertical, art tends to be resistant to inflation and, in some cases, generates competitive returns when weighted against Buffett’s preferred benchmark: the S&P 500. In fact, contemporary art outperformed the S&P 500 with a 12.6% compound annual growth rate between 1995 and 2022 (according to the magazine 2022).
Traditionally, this market has been locked behind a network of brokers, dealers, appraisers and experts.
But now, with Masterworks, you can tap into the growth potential of art.
Masterworks helps both non-accredited and accredited investors buy fractional shares of artworks by iconic artists such as Banksy, Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat. These pieces are called “blue-chip” art, meaning they are expected to appreciate in value just like blue-chip stocks.
In addition, Masterworks investors achieved representative annualized net returns such as +17.6%, +17.8% and +21.5% among assets held for more than one year.
Note that past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investment involves risk. See Reg A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd.
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Forbes (1); CNN (2); CNBC (3), (4), (7); SEC (5); etf.com (6); Bank of America (8); JPMorgan (9); Fortunes (10)
This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. Offered without warranty of any kind.
