Investing - Theory, News & General • Re: What does the Warren Buffett 90/10 look like?

From his 2013 Berkshire Hathaway letter to shareholders: "Short-term government bonds," vehicle not specified.

Source: https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2013ltr.pdf

Context:

My money, I should add, is where my mouth is: What I advise here is essentially identical to certain instructions I’ve laid out in my will. One bequest provides that cash will be delivered to a trustee for my wife’s benefit. (I have to use cash for individual bequests, because all of my Berkshire shares will be fully distributed to certain philanthropic organizations over the ten years following the closing of my estate.) My advice to the trustee could not be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard’s.) I believe the trust’s long-term results from this policy will be superior to those attained by most investors – whether pension funds, institutions or individuals – who employ high-fee managers.

Until and unless Buffett is interviewed by a reporter interested in such things, or chooses to write a book or an article of more detailed advice, we will not get actual answers to questions like "just for your wife's bequest or for my 401(k) fund," "do you mean specifically to avoid small-caps," and "do you mean specifically to avoid international stocks?"

Statistics: Posted by nisiprius — Tue Oct 13, 2026 6:27 am