4 Industries That Don’t Get Warren Buffett’s Money

Warren Buffett isn’t called the “Oracle of Omaha” for nothing. With a net worth of around $158 billion, he’s the world’s most prominent and lucrative investor, thanks to his expert timing and knack for predicting the best buys. Though Buffett has announced his plans to retire at the end of 2025 (at age 95!), his impact on investment strategy is simply unmatched.

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With that in mind, is there anything he won’t invest in? Actually, yes. Buffett instinctively knows when to hedge his bets, and if you like to follow his financial advice with your own investments, take a look below at the following industries that he doesn’t tend to give his money.

Buffett is well known for avoiding investing in emerging technologies. For example, he called Bitcoin “a mirage” and warned investors to stay away. However, though he has expressed skepticism about cryptocurrencies, Berkshire Hathaway has invested in the Brazilian digital banking company Nu Holdings, which offers a cryptocurrency platform including Bitcoin, so technically the company does benefit indirectly from the cryptocurrency market.

Buffett not understanding tech has served him well in the long run, as he seeks to invest in companies that have a significant amount of certainty. This often reduces his risk because he doesn’t rely on other people’s opinions. He simply trusts his gut when predicting future earnings and the value of each business he puts his money into.

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Buffett isn’t impressed when it comes to putting money into precious metals. As with his views on tech, it seems that he doesn’t see enough certain value in gold to risk investing in it and has remained one of its biggest skeptics. Despite the fact that Berkshire Hathaway did make a surprising foray into gold mining in 2020, it was short-lived and has since gone its separate ways, no doubt due to Buffett’s opinion on the matter.

Buffett wrote, “No one is an investor in gold: there are only speculators in the metal.” According to him, there’s essentially too much guesswork in predicting gold’s future value when compared to other commodities that can earn an investor immediate income. Simply put, he believes that investors in gold might get a store of value, however, investors in productive assets are gaining more in dividends over the years.

Berkshire Hathaway has invested in airlines in the past. For example, it purchased $10 billion worth of stock in big names like Delta, American, United and Southwest Airlines, but sold these stakes just four years later in 2020. This was largely due to the impact of the pandemic and was likely completely supported by Buffett, as that sector has been one of his biggest criticisms, and he currently has no shares in airlines in 2025.