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Warren Buffett is not only one of the savviest investors of our time, but also one of the wealthiest.
The Oracle of Omaha, who announced on May 5 that he plans to retire as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year, now has an estimated net worth of over $160 billion.
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The veteran investor has long been an advocate of investing in as simple a manner as possible.
"There’s huge amounts of money that people pay for advice they really don’t need … In my view, for most people, the best thing to do is to own the S&P 500 index," he said in May 2020.
Buffett also once said that 90% of his wife’s inheritance will go into an S&P 500 index fund.
But SEC filings data from March revealed that Buffett’s company Berkshire Hathaway unloaded its entire positions in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF and SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust — two low-cost exchange-traded funds the company had previously held for years.
That’s a move that may be spooking investors and causing them to question their own portfolios.
Why Buffett just dumped the S&P 500
Buffett didn’t say why his company chose to completely exit two established S&P 500 ETFs last quarter. But there are a number of reasons why he might have gone this 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.
Collectively the shares were a relatively small position for Berkshire at only $45.3 million of a $267 billion portfolio. It’s possible that the exit was a means of cleaning up Berkshire’s portfolio, something it has reportedly done before.
"Given Warren Buffett’s history of emphasizing long-term investing, this isn’t necessarily a warning sign for retail investors to panic," Milks said.
Should Buffett’s S&P 500 exit sound alarms about a market crash?
Between Buffett dumping Berkshire’s S&P 500 ETFs and other stocks, plus his growing cash pile, investors may worry he’s anticipating a near-term market crash. After all, recent market volatility due to U.S. tariff rollouts has caused many investors and analysts to question if the country is headed for a recession.
In Q1 of 2025, Berkshire also sold its entire stake in Ulta Beauty, and trimmed holdings in Bank of America, Citigroup, Nu Holdings, Charter Communication and Capital One.
If you’re worried about a stock market crash it can pay to remind yourself of your long-term investing goals and your investment horizon.
If you’re investing for retirement in 20 or 30 years, reacting to imminent market events — hypothetical or actual — can distract from long-term wealth management.
Planning your financial future over the decades might 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 assess how you’re doing so far and make sure you’ve got the right portfolio to meet your goals on time.
Vanguard’s hybrid advisory system combines advice from professional advisers and automated portfolio management to make sure your investments are working to achieve your financial goals.
All you have to do is fill out a brief questionnaire about your financial goals, and Vanguard’s advisers will help you set a tailored plan, and stick to it.
Once you’re set, you can sit back as Vanguard’s 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.
Read more: Want an extra $1,300,000 when you retire? Dave Ramsey says this 7-step plan ‘works every single time’ to kill debt, get rich in America — and that ‘anyone’ can do it
Diversify your portfolio
No matter what the rest of the year has in store for the NYSE, you can protect yourself by shepherding your money to less volatile pastures. While many investors are looking at stock markets in Canada and the EU, you can also consider diversifying outside of the markets with commodities, real estate and passion assets like art or fine wine.
For instance, gold has seen strong growth in the last five years. One way to invest in gold that also provides significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Thor Metals.
Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, thereby combining the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an attractive option for those looking to potentially hedge their retirement funds against economic uncertainties.
To learn more, you can get a free information guide that includes details on how to get up to $20,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases.
Real estate is another asset with growth potential in 2025. Though some markets are beginning to cool, experts agree that a falling interest rate could get buyers back in the game.
New investing platforms are making it easier than ever to tap into the real estate market.
For accredited investors, Homeshares gives access to the $36 trillion U.S. home equity 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 U.S. cities through their U.S. Home Equity Fund — without the headaches of buying, owning or managing property.
With risk-adjusted internal returns ranging from 12% to 18%, this approach provides an effective, hands-off way to invest in owner-occupied residential properties across regional markets.
If you’re not an accredited investor, crowdfunding platforms like Arrived allows you to enter the real estate market for as little as $100.
Arrived offers you access to shares of SEC-qualified investments in rental homes and vacation rentals, curated and vetted 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 your income level. Their flexible investment amounts and simplified process allows accredited and non-accredited investors to take advantage of this inflation-hedging asset class without any extra work on your part.
For accredited investors, you could instead consider opportunities in commercial real estate. First National Realty Partners (FNRP) gives you the opportunity to diversify your portfolio through grocery-anchored commercial real estate properties.
With a minimum investment of $50,000, investors can own a share of properties leased by national brands like Whole Foods, Kroger and Walmart, which provide essential goods to their communities. Thanks to triple net leases you can invest in these properties without worrying about tenant costs cutting into potential returns.
Finally, alternative assets like fine art have traditionally been out of reach for everyday investors But now with Masterworks you can access the growth potential of this market.
Masterworks helps non-accredited and accredited investors purchase fractional shares of artwork by iconic artists like Banksy and Basquiat.
Fine art has consistently outperformed the stock market in the long-run. In fact, contemporary art outperformed the S&P 500 with a compound annual growth rate of 12.6% between 1995 and 2022, according to a report from Fortune magazine.
As such, art can sometimes be used to diversify and potentially safeguard your investments with Masterworks. What’s more, Masterworks investors have realized representative annualized net returns like +17.6%, +17.8%, and +21.5% among assets held for longer than one year.
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This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.
