As the Sage of Omaha retires, our stock pickers reflect on Warren Buffett’s enduring lessons
After years of speculation, arguably the greatest investor of all time - 94-year-old Warren Buffett - has finally announced his retirement as CEO of his legendary investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway.
His achievements are truly astounding and unlikely to ever be beaten: a 5.5 million percent return over 60 or so years, or 19.9% annualised – roughly double that of the S&P 500 over the same timeframe .
It’s why scores of investors have sought the ingredients to his special sauce by flocking to Berkshire’s annual general meetings (AGMs) each year - rock concert-like events often described as “Woodstock for capitalists”.
Though some commentators have questioned whether Buffett has enjoyed benefits that may be difficult to replicate in the future – such as the use of cash ‘floats’ from businesses he controlled to invest in other stocks, or the closed-ended advantages of Berkshire which he also fully controlled - there remain plenty of lessons for investors that will stand the test of time. We ask our stock pickers about some of those most influential to their careers.
More than just a stock picker
It’s unlikely anyone will ever usurp Warren Buffett’s glittering record, in part because 60 years is a long time to do anything in life, but mostly on account of his deft hand at turning the genius lessons of Benjamin Graham - his mentor and the man widely seen as the godfather of modern-day value investing - and late business partner Charlie Munger into an unbeatable winning formula.
From Graham, it was the discipline of valuation; from Munger, that good quality businesses mattered because strong market positions could be defended and robust cash flow compounded over long periods of time.
It’s how, in some years, he’s simply left the market in the dust: in 1976, the S&P 500 gained 23.6%; Berkshire gained 129.3%1.
What’s more, Buffett has displayed an uncanny knack for side stepping the full force of downturns over the years, and is happy to be contrarian when the market overreacts and stocks become oversold, emphasised by one of his most famous sayings: “Be fearful when others are greedy and greedy when others are fearful”.
But his legions of fans admire more than just his skills as a stock picker: there’s his personal integrity and the billions he’s given to charitable endeavours, including the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation where he was trustee between 2006-2021 and to whom he has donated around $36 billion2.
Alliance Witan stock picker Metropolis concurs: “Buffett’s financial achievements are unparalleled: Berkshire’s stock has increased more than 100,000-fold since his initial investment in 1962, [but] his net worth would exceed $400 billion today if not for his extraordinary charitable giving.” Currently he is worth around $156 billion3.
So, what can investors take away from a stellar 60-year investment career?
Six lessons from the Sage
Of course, any stock picker will develop their own investment style, but for many, Buffett’s lessons are foundational. Here are six from some of Alliance Witan’s stock pickers.
1. Forget the noise, it’s all about the business
Alliance Witan stock picker Sands Capital points to Buffett’s apathy towards the noise of investment markets and toing and froing of economic cycles. They point out that, rather, his focus has always been on the companies themselves and what makes them “attractive uses of capital”, adding that he is contented in the discomfort this would bring from time to time.
2. Seek quality and value
Metropolis draws from Buffett’s focus on finding good quality businesses with “strong competitive advantages”, with shares priced well below their intrinsic value with a “clear margin of safety” that buffers against potential investment losses.
Alliance Witan stock picker EdgePoint adds that these factors have “profoundly shaped” their thinking and how they build wealth for clients.
3. Earnings are everything
Alliance Witan stock picker Lyrical Partners’ belief is that “if we get the earnings right, we get the stock right”. This view was built off a phrase originally coined by Benjamin Graham, but popularised by Buffett in his 1987 letter to shareholders: “In the short run, the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it’s a weighing machine.”
4. Only invest in what you understand
Lyrical also believes that if they are to get the earnings right, they need to be able to fully understand a business and its operations. They call it “Analysability”. But they also point out that Buffett often discussed not needing to know everything about every company in the whole market, but keeping to one’s own “circle of competence”, adding that “the size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital”.
5. People are vital
Metropolis points to Buffett’s character and the fact that many admire him for his “honesty, humility and respectful” treatment of others. This translates into the enormous value he places on the people running companies, and why, as stock picker Sands puts it, he “only does business with people and companies he views as having high integrity”.
6. Invest for the long term!
EdgePoint, Metropolis and Lyrical all point to Buffett’s most important lesson for us all: that investing is for the long term. Lyrical finishes with one final snappy Buffett aphorism: “the stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”
2 https://www.gatesfoundation.org/about/leadership/warren-buffett Accessed 29 May 2025
3 https://www.forbes.com/profile/warren-buffett/ Accessed 29 May 2025
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