Warren Buffett once said this US investment was ‘terrible long-term.’ Now he has $381 billion of it. Should you get in?

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Former Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett has ne'er shied distant from calling retired underperforming investments. Among his astir scathing critiques? An plus virtually everyone owns — cash.

In a 2008 op-ed for the New York Times, Buffett warned, “Today, radical who clasp currency equivalents consciousness comfortable. They shouldn’t. They person opted for a unspeakable semipermanent asset, 1 that pays virtually thing and is definite to depreciate successful worth (1).”

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Buffett had a point. Interest rates were debased successful 2008, truthful currency didn’t wage overmuch backmost then, and successful fact, it seldom does.

Inflation volition ever steadily erode the purchasing powerfulness of money, diminishing cash’s existent worth implicit clip — which is wherefore astir billionaires support their wealthiness highly illiquid. The modular regularisation for this cohort is nary much than 5% of wealthiness successful cash.

For example, Jimmy Donaldson, much famously known arsenic MrBeast, claims helium “doesn’t adjacent person capable wealth successful his slope relationship to bargain McDonald’s successful the morning” — successful spite of his reported nett worthy of $2.6 cardinal (2).

Fast guardant to today, and Buffett’s communicative seems to person taken an unexpected turn. By November 2025, Berkshire’s currency reserves had reportedly swelled to a staggering $381.7 cardinal (3). This is successful spite of the falling worth of the U.S. dollar, which mislaid 8% of its purchasing powerfulness successful 2025 (4), and yearly ostentation rates of 2.7% betwixt December 2024 and December 2025 (5).

So, what’s going on?

Here’s wherefore companies similar Berkshire are hoarding currency — and 3 tips to marque your wealth enactment harder to boost your nett worth.

The sheer size of Berkshire’s currency heap has raised eyebrows and fueled speculation astir the company’s wide strategy.

Edward Jones expert Jim Shanahan told Reuters that the increasing currency reserve “begs questions astir whether Buffett thinks stocks are overvalued oregon an economical downturn is coming, oregon is trying to physique currency for a large acquisition (6).”

In the aforesaid study by Reuters, CFRA Research expert Cathy Seifert interpreted Berkshire’s currency hoarding arsenic signaling a “risk-off” mindset, which could pb investors to interest astir its implications for the system and markets.