--- title: Warren Buffett Says the Stock Market Is Like a Casino — Investors Should Resist 'Foolishness' description: In his annual letter, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said he sees increased “casino-like behavior” in the financial markets. authors: - name: Pete Grieve role: Lead News Reporter url: https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/ bio: Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market. education: University of Chicago, BA Political Science at_money_since: 2022 articles: 600 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes social: - https://twitter.com/pete_grieve - https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138 - https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4 editors: - name: Julia Glum role: Managing Editor url: https://money.com/author/julia-glum/ bio: Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. education: University of Florida at_money_since: 2018 articles: 453 covers: - Investing - Banking - Business - Career Advice - Credit - Credit Cards - Debt - Economy and Politics - Education - Health and Wellness - Housing - Identity Theft - Insurance - Lifestyle - Loans - Mortgages - Personal Finance - Professional Services - Retirement - Shopping - Taxes - Technology also_seen_in: - Newsweek - International Business Times - CBS News - Good Morning America - WUSA9 - Pix 11 - The New York Times - Mashable - The Washington Post - CNBC - Politico social: - https://x.com/superjulia - https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum published: '2024-02-27T13:43:30.000Z' section: Investing tags: - News word_count: 407 canonical: https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-casino/ type: NewsArticle source: structured-blocks --- > **Disclosure:** We research all brands listed and may earn a fee from our partners. Research and financial considerations may influence how brands are displayed. Not all brands are included. [Learn more](https://money.com/page/disclaimer/). ![A photo-illustration of Warren Buffet with poker chips and playing cards.](https://img.money.com/2024/02/News-Stock-Market-Casino-Buffet.jpg) Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett sees increased “casino-like behavior” in financial markets — and is reminding investors it’s hard to beat the house gambling. In his annual [letter](https://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2023ltr.pdf) to shareholders, published online Saturday, Buffett criticized those who buy “hot” stocks or chase short-term gains. Instead, he said companies like Coca-Cola and American Express, which are such powerful players in their respective industries that it's hard to imagine a world without them, are what you want to own. Buying these sorts of “timeless” [stocks](https://money.com/how-to-buy-stocks/) when they're undervalued — and then being patient — is the path to greater wealth, according to Buffett, who is a famous champion of long-term value investing. (Of course, it's also important to have a diversified portfolio.) ## Build a balanced portfolio with Robinhood ### Invest in stocks, options, and ETFs at your pace and commission-free. Click on your state to get started. [Start Investing](https://money.com/pr/w534f64483f7?ap_referrer=%2Fwarren-buffett-stock-market-casino%2F) Meme stock investments, short-term trades and uncalculated options plays, on the other hand, are antithetical to Berkshire Hathaway’s way of operating. These high-risk investments can be a trap for undisciplined investors with unfettered access to trading apps. “For whatever reasons, markets now exhibit far more casino-like behavior than they did when I was young,” Buffett wrote in the letter. “The casino now resides in many homes and daily tempts the occupants.” Investors should watch out for institutions that are encouraging “foolishness” and keep in mind that rash, frenzied trading behavior helps *their* bottom line, not yours, Buffett said. If you invest too much of your money in a volatile individual stock, it's easy to get burned. At 92, Buffett is one of the most influential figures in the investing world, admired for the success of Berkshire Hathaway, a holding company that's beaten the market during the nearly six decades he's been at the helm. In this year's edition of his popular letter, Buffett said that market participants “are neither more emotionally stable nor better taught” now than when he started his career. That means you can still find opportunities to invest in undervalued stocks and see your investments grow over time: an approach that'll likely work out better than treating investing like gambling. “Thanks to the American tailwind and the power of compound interest, the arena in which we operate has been — and will be — rewarding if you make a couple of good decisions during a lifetime and avoid serious mistakes,” Buffett said. ![](https://s3.consumersadvocate.org/prd/image/image/16291/medium_00c49a6e-a3eb-40b2-b805-13b4258cd431.png) Become a better investor with Robinhood [INVEST TODAY](https://money.com/pr/w589e9f64e7d?ap_referrer=%2Fwarren-buffett-stock-market-casino%2F) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-casino/#breadcrumb", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://money.com" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Investing", "item": "https://money.com/investing/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "News", "item": "https://money.com/tag/news/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Warren Buffett Says the Stock Market Is Like a Casino — Investors Should Resist 'Foolishness'" } ] }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://money.com/#website", "url": "https://money.com", "name": "Money", "publisher": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } }, { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-casino/#webpage", "url": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-casino/", "name": "Warren Buffett Says the Stock Market Is Like a Casino — Investors Should Resist 'Foolishness'", "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://money.com/#website" }, "datePublished": "2024-02-27T13:43:30.000Z", "mainEntity": { "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-casino/" }, "inLanguage": "en-US", "breadcrumb": { "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-casino/#breadcrumb" } }, { "@type": "NewsArticle", "headline": "Warren Buffett Says the Stock Market Is Like a Casino — Investors Should Resist 'Foolishness'", "articleSection": "Investing", "image": [ { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://img.money.com/2024/02/News-Stock-Market-Casino-Buffet.jpg", "width": 2880, "height": 1920, "caption": "News-Stock-Market-Casino-Buffet" } ], "author": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Pete Grieve", "url": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/pete-grieve/#author", "description": "Pete Grieve is a personal finance reporter. In his time at Money, Pete has covered everything from car buying to credit cards to the housing market.", "image": "https://img.money.com/2023/02/peter.png?w=350&h=430&crop=1", "email": "peter.grieve@money.com", "jobTitle": "Lead News Reporter", "alumniOf": "University of Chicago, BA Political Science", "sameAs": [ "https://twitter.com/pete_grieve", "https://linkedin.com/in/pete-grieve-b5aa02138", "https://www.facebook.com/petegrieve4" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "publisher": "https://money.com/#organization", "datePublished": "2024-02-27T13:43:30.000Z", "description": "In his annual letter, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said he sees increased “casino-like behavior” in the financial markets.", "abstract": "In his annual letter, Berkshire Hathaway CEO Warren Buffett said he sees increased “casino-like behavior” in the financial markets.", "@id": "https://money.com/warren-buffett-stock-market-casino/", "inLanguage": "en-US", "editor": [ { "@type": "Person", "name": "Julia Glum", "url": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/", "@id": "https://money.com/author/julia-glum/#author", "description": "Julia Glum joined Money in 2018 and specializes in covering financial trends that affect everyday Americans' wallets. She also writes Dollar Scholar, a weekly newsletter that teaches young adults how to navigate the messy world of money. ", "image": "https://img.money.com/2021/10/a_julia-glum.jpg?quality=85&w=400&h=440&crop=1", "email": "julia.glum@money.com", "jobTitle": "Managing Editor", "alumniOf": "University of Florida", "subjectOf": [ { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.newsweek.com", "name": "Newsweek" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.ibtimes.com/", "name": "International Business Times" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.cbsnews.com/news/home-office-tax-deduction-who-qualifies/", "name": "CBS News" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.goodmorningamerica.com/living/story/coupon-queen-woman-tik-tok-share-tips-couponing-66302189", "name": "Good Morning America" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.wusa9.com/video/entertainment/television/programs/great-day-washington/tips-to-being-better-with-money-in-2021/65-a5b83e05-73ba-4d60-b9a8-1d47f9ac6018", "name": "WUSA9" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://pix11.com/news/coronavirus/rebound/making-ends-meet/millenials-taking-biggest-financial-hit-from-pandemic/", "name": "Pix 11" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/10/opinion/active-shooter-drill-schools.html", "name": "The New York Times" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://mashable.com/article/forrest-fenn-treasure-found", "name": "Mashable" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-nation/wp/2014/08/13/theres-an-app-for-that-authorities-say-man-asked-siri-for-help-dumping-body/", "name": "The Washington Post" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/08/treasure-buried-by-forrest-fenn-finally-found-after-10-years.html", "name": "CNBC" }, { "@type": "WebPage", "url": "https://www.politico.com/tipsheets/florida-playbook/2017/03/gillum-for-governors-rollout-stumble-florida-woman-gets-trump-shout-out-rubios-tampa-office-problems-218973", "name": "Politico" } ], "sameAs": [ "https://x.com/superjulia", "https://www.linkedin.com/in/julia-glum" ], "worksFor": { "@id": "https://money.com/#organization" } } ], "wordCount": 407, "keywords": [ "News" ], "about": [ { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Investment", "sameAs": [ "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Investment" ] } ] } ] } ```