4. The Berkshire meeting
Buffett welcomed tens of thousands of Berkshire shareholders to his company's annual gathering in Omaha in May. He and his business partner, Charlie Munger, fielded questions for over five hours on a wide variety of topics.
The Berkshire CEO said the US government was right to step in and guarantee people's deposits during this spring's banking debacle, as failing to do so would have triggered widespread bank runs and sent shockwaves through the global financial system.
"A lighted match can be turned into a conflagration, or it can be blown out," he said.
Buffett also said he was wary of owning bank stocks, concerned about commercial real estate's overreliance on debt, and feared an incredible period for the US economy fueled by near-zero interest rates and carefree government spending had ended.
The investor also dismissed fears of de-dollarization as he didn't see any obvious substitutes to the greenback, and trumpeted ChatGPT's innovativeness but flagged the risks of AI. Moreover, he noted Berkshire was set to collect over $5 billion in interest from its cash and Treasury bills this year thanks to higher rates, and hailed Apple as a "better business than any we own."
Buffett also preached the importance of personal thriftiness, emphasized the huge impact of finding the right spouse and teaching kids the right values, and encouraged people to write their own obituaries then try to live up to them.
Close listeners were treated to plenty of nuggets, including details about the dollar value of Buffett's personal bank account, an oil deal that still paid Munger $70,000 a year more than six decades later, and the red flags that Buffettspotted in banks' financials.
Buffett and Munger also saluted Elon Musk for trying to do the impossible. "Warren and I are looking for the easy job. We don't want that much failure," Munger said.
