With his quintessential charm and wisdom, the 90-year-old Warren Buffett offered perspective and level-headedness in his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders, according to a recent article in Bloomberg.
“All that’s required is the passage of time, an inner calm,” began one section of the letter as he discussed the essentials of investing in a business. Given the events of this past year, the article notes that the “bar was high” but notes that those expecting granular discourse on the specific issues our country faced might be let down: “Buffett met the occasion by doing what he always does: explain his decisions, take his lumps and victory laps, offer up his musings on investing. If you wanted something different, you didn’t get it, and you don’t know Buffett.”
The article notes that while Buffett failed to mention Bitcoin, Robinhood or Reddit, he delivered one notable passage that, “if this were to be Buffett’s last letter, it would be a relatively eloquent signoff:”
There has been no incubator for unleashing human potential like America. Despite some severe interruptions, our country’s economic progress has been breathtaking. Beyond that, we retain our constitutional aspiration of becoming “a more perfect union.” Progress on that front has been slow, uneven and often discouraging. We have, however, moved forward and will continue to do so. Our unwavering conclusion: Never bet against America.
According to the article, the biggest omission was any discussion on markets and valuations. “Instead,” it explains, “Berkshire has been buying back stock,” to the tune of almost $25 billion in 2020 and Buffett explaining how “that action increased your ownership in all of Berkshire’s businesses by 5.2%.”