Financial Advisors Love Warren Buffett, but They Don't Always Agree With Him -- Barrons.com

By Weld Royal

On August 30, Warren Buffett turns 96-his first birthday since stepping down as Berkshire Hathaway's CEO. He remains chairman and is less involved in day-to-day operations, but he still handles some of the investing decisions, including initiating the purchase of Alphabet in the second quarter.

Many investors follow Buffett's investing wisdom, but for financial advisors, clients' desire to mimic his every move can sometimes have a downside. We asked a handful of advisors when they encourage clients to follow Buffett's advice and when they say suggest a different path.

Picking stocks. Financial advisors generally agree with Buffett maxims concerning the benefits of buy-and-hold investing, buying what you know, and avoiding complex, high-fee investment products like hedge funds.

Buffett emphasized the buy-and-hold theme he reiterated as recently as Berkshire's annual meeting in May when he discussed Apple's stellar returns noting, "I didn't have to do a damn thing." That $35 billion Apple investment grew to $185 billion all on its own.

Advisors today may quibble with Buffett when it comes to a value style of investing. Ben Carlson, director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz Wealth Management, notes that Buffett built his reputation at a time when markets were less efficient, information moved slowly, and a value-oriented style of stock picking often outperformed growth.

But value investing has underperformed growth investing for most of this century. Carlson points out that if Buffett started out in today's markets, results from a value-oriented buy and hold strategy likely would not match Berkshire's performance.

However, he thinks Buffett has played a role in encouraging investors to buy on dips, which has helped smooth market volatility. You do not see as much panic anymore when markets are going down, he says. "You've seen it in almost every correction this decade," says Carson, "money flows increase when volatility hits. That sort of behavior has become ingrained in people.

Samantha Garcia, a senior wealth advisor at Halbert Hargrove in Long Beach, Calif., isn't thrilled when clients tell her they want to mirror Buffett's stock picks. "Buffett's in Apple," she recalls hearing from one. "Should we be going into Apple?"

The stock they mention might not fit her client's portfolio or be a good buy at the time. "I'm always going to come back to my client's goals and figure out how we can best make sure that they meet them," she says.

Garcia is a fan of Buffett, however. She favors his views on the benefits of compound interest and starting investing early.

Asset allocation. Thomas Kopelman, founder of AllStreet Wealth in Indianapolis, says Buffett fans these days may want to follow Buffett into cash. In the first quarter of 2026, Berkshire Hathaway's cash and cash equivalents reached a record high of $397 billion.

But he'll explain to clients that they will earn lower rates on cash than Berkshire and that putting too much money in cash means missing out on market gains and failing to keep up with inflation over time. "I think the way Warren Buffett invests is very different from how the average person should invest," he says. "They're in a completely different world."

Personal spending. Buffett famously drives older cars and has lived in the same Omaha house he bought in 1958 for $31,500. While advisors generally like clients to spend less than they earn, they aren't pleased when clients take frugality to an extreme.

"I work with a lot of seven figure business owners," says Kopelman. "They don't need to drive an 18-year-old Toyota. They can buy a nicer car."

The next Buffett? Advisors aren't sure another investor will fill the same intellectual and moral space Buffett has occupied in American finance for more than a half-century. "It took Warren Buffett a long time to become that voice, and it's a voice that we know because he's been in the industry since the '60s," says Garcia. "I wonder if we're going to hear a voice that stands the test of time that Warren Buffett has stood."

Carlson says the main quality the next Buffett will need is integrity. "We've seen a lot of investors who have led people astray," says Carlson. "Buffett never did that. He was able to keep his reputation for as long as he did because he did not make blunders that caused anyone to question his character as an investor."

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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August 17, 2026 17:42 ET (21:42 GMT)