Yesterday I watched the 2020 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders meeting. It was held virtually and streamed live on Yahoo! Finance. I’ve never attended one of Berkshire’s annual meetings, so I figured this would be a great learning opportunity. Warren Buffett is a famous investor whose opinions about financial markets have a big impact on many people.

Here are a few of my takeaways:

• History – Buffett spent quite a bit of time giving a history lesson on the markets since his birth (which was during the Great Depression). He was extremely knowledgeable about market history, specific actions on specific dates, and key figures involved in those decisions. I’d imagine his knowledge of history has been a key factor in his success.
• America – He was bullish on America and warned his listeners many times that no one should ever bet against America.
• Airlines – Until recently, Berkshire owned roughly 10% of the four largest US airlines, which Buffett said all have excellent management teams. He thinks air travel has been fundamentally changed by the pandemic and sold Berkshire’s airline positions in March for $6 billion.
• Patiently waiting – Berkshire has over $137 billion in cash and cash equivalents, but it didn’t buy much of anything in March or April. Buffett said he hadn’t seen “anything that attractive.”

The meeting was packed with great information. I was impressed with Buffett’s mental and physical stamina. He talked nonstop for almost five hours about complicated topics and answered audience questions. I’m going to watch it again! I picked up a ton of great nuggets, but I’m sure I missed another ton of equally great ones. If this sounds interesting to you, consider watching the replay here.