According to the annual report announced by Warren Buffett, his company, Berkshire Hathaway, had operating profits of $30.8 billion in 2022.
CNBC published live coverage and a detailed report of Warren Buffett's meeting with shareholders, an annual tradition Buffett has been keen to do for nearly half a century.
Not only did Buffett offer his outlook on the past year for his company, Berkshire Hathaway, but he shared his thoughts on all things investing.
Buffett's letter came in at just 4,455 words, making it the shortest Buffett's letter to shareholders in 44 years.
The fortune of the 92-year-old businessman, who is one of the world's largest investors, is estimated at $106 billion, and he said in his message, "I have been busy investing for 80 years, that is, more than a third of the age of our country, and I think that now is the right time when we can bet." On America,” and stressed that his investment policy depends on learning from his mistakes over the past 80 years.
A report by “The Ascent” website quoted Warren Buffett’s top 5 investment advice, and it came as follows:
Save before you spend
Saving money is your ticket to growing wealth. Buffett firmly believes in the power of investing, but to invest you must first put money aside, and if you spend all your salary, you can't do that.
Always be prepared for the unexpected
You never know when an unplanned bill might land on your hands, and if you don't have the money to cover it, you may have to rack up debt and pay expensive interest.
For this reason, Buffett is such a big fan of emergency funds.
A good rule of thumb is to keep enough money in your savings account to cover 3 to 6 months of basic living expenses.
Don't buy a stock you don't want to own in the next 20 years
Buffett believes that you can make a lot of money by investing in the stock market, but it is important to take a long-term approach to buying stocks, the ideal holding period for any given stock is "forever".
But in general, he advocates buying stocks that you plan to hold for a very long time.
Invest in your success
Just as you can invest by buying the right stocks for your portfolio, investing in yourself could be your ticket to increasing your wealth.
Don't be afraid to go back to school to get an advanced degree, take an online course, or do whatever is necessary to put yourself on the path to career development.
Take advantage of a long term mortgage
Buffett is a big fan of 30-year home financing, especially when rates are low (which they are today).
When you take out a long-term loan, you're buying yourself flexibility by not limiting yourself in the higher payments that come with a short-term loan.
Berkshire Hathaway annual results
During Buffett's meeting with shareholders, the annual results of his company, Berkshire Hathaway, were presented, and here we review the most prominent figures:
Berkshire's operating profit declined during the fourth quarter, as inflationary pressures affected the conglomerate's business.
The company's operating profit totaled $6.7 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022. This represents a decrease of 7.9% from the same period last year, when total profit was $7.285 billion.
Profits for Berkshire's rail, utilities and energy companies were $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, down slightly from the same period last year.
Underwriting activity in the company's insurance sector fell to $244 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, down from $372 million in the same period a year earlier.
Over the year, the group's total operating profit was $30.793 billion, up 12.2% from $27.455 billion in 2021.
Berkshire used $2.855 billion to buy back shares in the fourth quarter.
This is down from the same period last year when share buybacks totaled more than $6 billion.
Berkshire's cash reserves grew to $128.651 billion in the fourth quarter of 2022, up from $109 billion in the third quarter.