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Berkshire Hathaway returned 20% annually since 1965 under Buffett.
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VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF returned 419% since 2012 versus 398% for the S&P 500.
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SPLG charges 0.02% annually and is now the cheapest S&P 500 ETF available.
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A recent study identified one single habit that doubled Americans’ retirement savings and moved retirement from dream, to reality. Read more here.
Warren Buffett is one of the greatest and most respected investors of all time. Most investors would like to emulate Buffett’s investing style in their portfolios, which is not easy, but we can certainly learn from his strategies.
Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) has increased in value by more than 5,600,000% since Buffett took control of the company in 1965, which is an unbelievable 20% annually and double the S&9 500 over that time.
The legendary investor favors companies with “economic moats,” which are like “economic castles protected by unbreachable moats.” In simple terms, a moat is a unique competitive advantage that enables a company to outperform others in the same industry over time.
The VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) invests in attractively priced companies with sustainable competitive advantages. The ETF aims to track the performance of wide moat companies in the United States. The fund uses Morningstar equity analysts to select companies with long-term competitive advantages relative to their fair market value.
Since its inception in 2012, MOAT is up 419% compared to the S&P 500’s 398% gains.
Here are the current top 15 holdings in the VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF:
|
Ticker |
Holdings Name |
Shares |
% of Net Assets |
Market Value |
|
AMAT US |
Applied Materials Inc |
1,813,160 |
$489,752,647.60 |
3.72% |
|
EL US |
Estee Lauder Cos Inc/The |
3,852,555 |
$406,675,705.80 |
3.09% |
|
HII US |
Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc |
1,212,204 |
$396,051,290.88 |
3.01% |
|
TMO US |
Thermo Fishe Scientific Inc |
676,064 |
$391,373,449.60 |
2.97% |
|
MRK US |
Merck & Co Inc |
3,682,651 |
$364,619,275.51 |
2.77% |
|
DHR US |
Danaher Corp |
1,513,233 |
$351,629,952.21 |
2.67% |
|
A US |
Agilent Technologies Inc |
2,456,566 |
$350,969,584.42 |
2.67% |
|
TER US |
Teradyne Inc |
1,689,283 |
$344,563,053.51 |
2.62% |
|
USB US |
Us Bancorp |
6,424,283 |
$344,213,083.14 |
2.62% |
|
WST US |
West Pharmaceutical Services Inc |
1,253,465 |
$341,619,351.10 |
2.60% |
|
GEHC US |
Ge Healthcare Technologies Inc |
3,941,321 |
$339,150,672.05 |
2.58% |
|
AMGN US |
Amgen Inc |
1,058,807 |
$336,044,165.66 |
2.55% |
|
UPS US |
United Parcel Service Inc |
3,308,773 |
$332,465,511.04 |
2.53% |
|
BMY US |
Bristol-Myers Squibb Co |
6,299,910 |
$322,555,392.00 |
2.45% |
|
NXPI US |
Nxp Semiconductors Nv |
1,370,887 |
$317,812,733.21 |
2.41% |
In the past, Buffett invested in undervalued companies with great potential, which he called “cigar butts.” However, his thinking later evolved to “it’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price than a fair company at a wonderful price.”
The SPDR MSCI USA StrategicFactors ETF aims to invest in high-quality firms with durable balance sheets and stable cash flows, trading at reasonable valuations.
The SPDR StrategicFactors ETF has been on the heals of of the S&P 500 since inception in 2015 but the broad market index outperformed the ETF.
As of the time of this writing, these are the top 15 stocks in the QUS ETF.
|
Ticker |
Holdings Name |
Shares |
Weight |
|
MICROSOFT CORP |
MSFT |
97414.000 |
3.16% |
|
APPLE INC |
AAPL |
168385.000 |
2.76% |
|
NVIDIA CORP |
NVDA |
201180.000 |
2.66% |
|
META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A |
META |
55549.000 |
2.38% |
|
VISA INC CLASS A SHARES |
V |
91808.000 |
2.28% |
|
ELI LILLY + CO |
LLY |
30073.000 |
2.10% |
|
JOHNSON + JOHNSON |
JNJ |
133933.000 |
1.87% |
|
MASTERCARD INC A |
MA |
45955.000 |
1.68% |
|
ALPHABET INC CL A |
GOOGL |
76561.000 |
1.62% |
|
WALMART INC |
WMT |
201716.000 |
1.34% |
|
ALPHABET INC CL C |
GOOG |
71164.000 |
1.32% |
|
CISCO SYSTEMS INC |
CSCO |
250792.000 |
1.23% |
|
EXXON MOBIL CORP |
XOM |
164003.000 |
1.16% |
|
MERCK + CO. INC. |
MRK |
193182.000 |
1.14% |
|
PROCTER + GAMBLE CO/THE |
PG |
132050.000 |
1.11% |
Buffett has long recommended that most investors should stick with low-cost index funds. The iShares Core S&P 500 ETF IVV and Vanguard S&P 500 ETF VOO charge just 0.03% each, but SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF SPLG‘s new fee of 0.02% makes it the cheapest in the space.
The SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF offers broad exposure and aims to replicate the S&P 500 total returns and contains exposure to 80% of the U.S. stock market.
The total returns for all three ETFs mentioned track the S&P 500 very closely, and with a slightly less expense ratio of SPLG, the SPDR Portfolio S&P 500 ETF is our selected ETF for broad market exposure.
Currently, here are the top 15 stocks in SPLG:
|
Ticker |
Holdings Name |
Shares |
% of Net Assets |
|
NVIDIA CORP |
NVDA |
41643816.000 |
7.485872 |
|
APPLE INC |
AAPL |
25328260.000 |
6.996459 |
|
MICROSOFT CORP |
MSFT |
12686275.000 |
6.093755 |
|
AMAZON.COM INC |
AMZN |
16563911.000 |
3.789661 |
|
BROADCOM INC |
AVGO |
8027617.000 |
3.241079 |
|
ALPHABET INC CL A |
GOOGL |
9927984.000 |
3.081734 |
|
ALPHABET INC CL C |
GOOG |
7970044.000 |
2.484028 |
|
META PLATFORMS INC CLASS A |
META |
3701796.000 |
2.400568 |
|
TESLA INC |
TSLA |
4789336.000 |
2.126460 |
|
BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC CL B |
BRK.B |
3129701.000 |
1.541823 |
|
JPMORGAN CHASE + CO |
JPM |
4693126.000 |
1.479868 |
|
ELI LILLY + CO |
LLY |
1356975.000 |
1.360842 |
|
VISA INC CLASS A SHARES |
V |
2899317.000 |
0.995608 |
|
EXXON MOBIL CORP |
XOM |
7276447.000 |
0.864199 |
|
WALMART INC |
WMT |
7491532.000 |
0.858074 |
|
JOHNSON + JOHNSON |
JNJ |
4110616.000 |
0.857686 |
Most Americans drastically underestimate how much they need to retire and overestimate how prepared they are. But data shows that people with one habit have more than double the savings of those who don’t.
And no, it’s got nothing to do with increasing your income, savings, clipping coupons, or even cutting back on your lifestyle. It’s much more straightforward (and powerful) than any of that. Frankly, it’s shocking more people don’t adopt the habit given how easy it is.