Berkshire Hathaway: Diary of a Growth Investor in Waiting

Berkshire Hathaway Diary: July 2025
Coffee consumed before looking at markets: record levels. Feverish Google searches for “Warren Buffett health status”: 2 (so far). Wondering, in nagging fashion, if long-term investing is just a sophisticated form of financial FOMO: continually.

Oh Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.B), you maddeningly staid, giant snowball of a company. You have been my reliable, utterly unsexy blind date for years—never underdressed, always polite, rarely surprising, and, crucially, engineered by the world’s most methodical romantic: Warren Buffett. But now, after decades of predictably crushing the S&P 500—aka, the long-term equivalent of making perfect Yorkshire puddings every Sunday—change is afoot.

1. In Which Warren Buffett Steps Off the Treadmill and We All Panic Slightly

Buffett has always seemed immortal, in the way that, say, the Queen was immortal or the geese in Hyde Park are immortal (i.e., not actually immortal). My entire investing adolescence has been spent comforted by the idea that buying Berkshire Hathaway was like bunking onto Buffett’s lifeboat: safe, if alarmingly full of insurance documents.

But now, there’s an expiration date on this cozy arrangement. By the end of 2025, Buffett steps down as CEO. The new protagonist? Greg Abel—loyal, steady, big on utility companies, perhaps not so into Cherry Coke. Buffett himself remains as chairman, which is reassuring in a “parental controls still on the telly” sort of way. But, as a growth investor, I must acknowledge the awkward breakfast-table truth: Abel is not Buffett. No one is Buffett, except, of course, Buffett.

Current status: Monitoring Greg Abel for signs of endearing quirks, spontaneous stock jokes, or an ability to resist meme stocks. Watch this space.

2. The Not-So-Minor Matter of the $347 Billion Cushion

Latest growth investor confession: Every time I see Berkshire’s cash pile—now a glimmering $347 billion—I vacillate between awe and mild rage. List of things larger than this sum: national budgets, the queue for Taylor Swift tickets.

Yes, cash cushions are lovely, especially when the world is occasionally on fire (sometimes literally). But the opportunity cost! That deadweight cash could be roaming wild among tech unicorns or, at the very least, earning proper returns rather than politely gathering dust. What would I do with such an embarrassment of riches? (Buy a basket of small-cap disruptors, lose sleep, repeat.)

Abel, meanwhile, will inherit a sum equal to the GDP of some not-so-small countries. The intrigue: Will he be bold or cautious? Will he succumb to the siren call of overpriced mega-acquisitions, or will he go full “reclusive dragon guarding treasure” and do, frankly, nothing?

Field notes: Must examine Abel’s shopping habits (corporate edition) the moment he gets the company Amex.

3. Waiting (Somewhat Impatiently) for the Next Market Panic

Berkshire’s size is an asset—right up until it isn’t. Any acquisition they make needs to be Kanye-West-level headline-grabbing to move the needle. But with the market perched on all-time highs—sod’s law—the world is short on bargains.

But here’s the crackling firework of potential: one day, there will be a bear market, and Berkshire (plus its glinting war chest) will be the party guest who arrives just as everyone else is raiding the coat closet for loose change. I imagine Abel, in this hypothetical Bloodbath ‘o’ Stocks scenario, striding around buying things Warren-mostly approved, while self-doubt (and the Mayo Clinic’s stress hotline) rages in the background.

In the Diary: Must prepare personal wish list for what Abel should buy if/when opportunity knocks—preferably growth stocks with moats, not yet anointed by Wall Street’s hype machine.

Conclusion: Change Happens, Even to Berkshire

To sum up: If you, like me, are a long-game, growth-obsessed investor, don’t file Berkshire away as a chair-to-nap-in just yet. There’s tension in the air for the first time since before dial-up. The CEO switcheroo is real, the mountain of cash will have to earn its keep, and a market swoon might finally give this steady ship something to do.

Units of patience required: industrial. Mantra: Watch, wait, don’t panic-buy six different fintech ETFs. Keep diary close. 🧐

2025-08-01 11:32

1. In Which Warren Buffett Steps Off the Treadmill and We All Panic Slightly

2. The Not-So-Minor Matter of the $347 Billion Cushion

3. Waiting (Somewhat Impatiently) for the Next Market Panic

Conclusion: Change Happens, Even to Berkshire

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