Warren Buffett's 5 Golden Rules: Your Blueprint to Investment Success (2024)

FAQs

What are Warren Buffett's 5 rules of investing? ›

A: Five rules drawn from Warren Buffett's wisdom for potentially building wealth include investing for the long term, staying informed, maintaining a competitive advantage, focusing on quality, and managing risk.

Warren Buffett once said, “The first rule of an investment is don't lose [money]. And the second rule of an investment is don't forget the first rule. And that's all the rules there are.”

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett famously said: “The first rule of an investment is don't lose money. And the second rule is don't forget the first rule.” Being honest, I've never quite got it. Anybody who buys individual stocks surely has to accept they'll lose money at some point.

1 – Never lose money. Let's kick it off with some timeless advice from legendary investor Warren Buffett, who said “Rule No. 1 is never lose money.

As an investor you will find many products and many options to invest in. The 5% rule says as an investor, you should not invest more than 5% of your total portfolio in any one option alone. This simple technique will ensure you have a balanced portfolio.

It dates back to 1943 and states that commissions, markups, and markdowns of more than 5% are prohibited on standard trades, including over-the-counter and stock exchange listings, cash sales, and riskless transactions. Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

The 7% stop loss rule is a rule of thumb to place a stop loss order at about 7% or 8% below the buy order for any new position. If the asset price falls by more than 7%, the stop-loss order automatically executes and liquidates the traders' position.

In the interview, he said the Berkshire shares would go to philanthropy. Part of the cash would go directly to his wife and part to a trustee. He told the trustee to put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund.

What is the Buffett's two list rule? ›

Buffett presented a three-step exercise to help streamline his focus. The first step was to write down his top 25 career goals. In the second step, Buffett told Flint to identify his top five goals from the list. In the final step, Flint had two lists: the top five goals (List A) and the remaining 20 (List B).

A 70/30 portfolio is an investment portfolio where 70% of investment capital is allocated to stocks and 30% to fixed-income securities, primarily bonds.

Still living in the house he bought in the 1950s and driving an equally modest car, the "Oracle of Omaha" prefers to keep and grow his money rather than take it out of the bank. He often eats breakfast from McDonald's and borrowed furniture when his children were born.

Unlike many top billionaires, Buffett has modeled his investment strategy off Benjamin Graham's method of value investing. In other words, he finds and invests in stocks or securities that are priced far lower than their intrinsic value and holds them for the long term.

The rule's origin is reported as advice given by Buffet to his personal pilot, Mike Flint. Flint asked Buffet for career advice, leading to Buffet thinking of the 5/25 rule. Buffet asked Flint to list his top 25 career goals, pick the top five, and avoid the rest until the top five are achieved.

The 10,5,3 rule offers a simple guideline. Expect around 10% returns from long-term equity investments, 5% from debt instruments, and 3% from savings bank accounts. This rule helps investors set realistic expectations and allocate their investments accordingly.