Legendary investor Warren Buffett calls investing a “simple game” that financial advisors have convinced the public is harder than it really is.
Speaking at Saturday’s Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting, Buffett slammed Wall Street financial advisors for “catching the crumbs that fall off the table of capitalism” and said that in most cases, “monkeys” could provide better investment returns simply by throwing money at American companies.
“You can have monkeys throwing darts at the page, and, you know, take away the management fees and everything, I’ll bet on the monkeys [over the advisors],” he said.
If they told everybody what a simple game [investing] was, 90% of the income of the people that were speaking would disappear.
Warren Buffett
CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
Buffett pointed out how since 1941, the Dow Jones Industrial Average has increased from $100 to more than $30,000, and said that most people need only put their money into “an American business” and let it grow.
“It’s amazing how hard people make what is a simple game,” Buffett said of advisors. “But of course, if they told everybody what a simple game it was, 90% of the income of the people that were speaking would disappear.”
