Earlier in 2025, at the Berkshire Hathaway Inc. (ticker: BRK.A, BRK.B) annual general meeting, Warren Buffett announced his retirement, citing plans to step down as CEO by the end of the year.
In a subsequent phone interview with the Wall Street Journal, the then-94-year-old investor admitted his age was catching up to him, offering his reasoning for the decision. He’ll be succeeded by longtime Berkshire executive Greg Abel.
The announcement has not slowed coverage of Buffett or Berkshire’s investment moves. The latest 13F form filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) drew widespread attention, as financial media continues to scrutinize every purchase and sale.
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Buffett has been steadily trimming some of Berkshire’s largest holdings, including Apple Inc. (AAPL) and Bank of America Corp. (BAC). At the same time, Berkshire’s $300 billion-plus cash pile continues to grow.
“If Berkshire’s cash balance was a standalone public company, it would be around the 25th-largest publicly traded company,” says Adam Patti, CEO of VistaShares ETFs. “But what is interesting is that this does present the new CEO [opportunities] to make some significant additive moves over the coming years.”
The most notable recent move was a new position in UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), which, despite a recent rally, remains down about 40% in 2025 as the company faces a U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation into potential Medicare fraud.
Buffett’s rationale for buying UnitedHealth is not public, but based on his prior remarks about being “greedy when others are fearful” and needing opportunities large enough to move Berkshire’s needle, the logic is not difficult to infer.
Even more telling when it comes to Buffett’s outlook for the U.S. economy were new stakes in major homebuilders Lennar Corp. (LEN) and D.R. Horton Inc. (DHI). These moves have fueled speculation that the Oracle of Omaha anticipates rate cuts and a rebound in housing starts.
Here are six exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that could help you invest like Warren Buffett:
| ETF | Expense ratio |
| Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO) | 0.03% |
| Acquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF (DEEP) | 0.80% |
| Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ) | 0.15% |
| VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT) | 0.47% |
| Distillate U.S. Fundamental Stability & Value ETF (DSTL) | 0.39% |
| VistaShares Target 15 Berkshire Select Income ETF (OMAH) | 0.95% |
Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)
Buffett may be a renowned stock picker, but his advice for most investors has always been simple: Buy the S&P 500 through a low-cost index fund. He has even disclosed that his own estate plan calls for 90% of assets to be allocated to S&P 500 index funds and the remaining 10% to short-term Treasurys. Retail investors following that blueprint can use VOO, which charges just a 0.03% expense ratio.
VOO is the most popular U.S.-listed ETF, with more than $710 billion in assets under management. The fund fully replicates the S&P 500 and has delivered an annualized return of 13.6% over the past 10 years. It also trades with high daily volume, narrow bid-ask spreads and is tax-efficient in a brokerage account. It is also available as the Vanguard 500 Index Fund Admiral Shares (VFIAX) mutual fund.
Acquirers Small and Micro Deep Value ETF (DEEP)
Buffett’s investment style has evolved over time. Early in his career, as a protégé of Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, he focused on “cigar butt” stocks. These were deeply undervalued companies that might still be “good for one last puff” of returns before fading away. A modern version of this approach is available through DEEP, which tracks the proprietary Acquirers Deep Value Index.
DEEP selects 100 companies based on the “Acquirer’s multiple.” This valuation metric compares a firm’s enterprise value, or total cost to acquire the business, against its operating earnings to identify cheap takeover candidates. Unlike most small-cap strategies, DEEP runs a fairly concentrated portfolio, favoring conviction over broad diversification. However, it charges a relatively high 0.8% expense ratio.
Invesco S&P 500 Quality ETF (SPHQ)
The best investors evolve, and no shift was more visible than Buffett’s change in mentality after meeting his business partner, the late Charlie Munger. Munger convinced Buffett to move away from “cigar butts” and toward “wonderful companies at a fair price.” From Munger’s view, owning durable compounders was far superior to bargain hunting. SPHQ provides a rules-based way to follow this philosophy.
“SPHQ selects stocks based on return on equity, low balance sheet accruals and low leverage,” says Nick Kalivas, head of factor and core equity ETF product strategy at Invesco. “Unlike many methodologies that focus on earnings or valuation, SPHQ looks below the surface to discover stocks with strong profitability, a high degree of cash earnings, and low interest rate and credit risk relative to peers.”
[Read: 7 Dividend Stocks to Buy and Hold Forever]
VanEck Morningstar Wide Moat ETF (MOAT)
Buffett has often emphasized the importance of finding businesses with wide moats, or the ability to fend off competitors for decades. Morningstar has done extensive research on this concept and identifies five primary sources of wide moats: intangible assets, switching costs, network effects, cost advantages and efficient scale. These principles are put into practice with MOAT.
“Warren Buffett’s retirement marks the closing chapter of one of the most iconic careers in investing, but the principles he championed — investing in high-quality businesses at a reasonable price — live on,” says Brandon Rakszawski, vice president and director of product management at VanEck. “MOAT embraces this by targeting companies with durable competitive advantages and attractive valuations.”
Distillate U.S. Fundamental Stability & Value ETF (DSTL)
Warren Buffett’s recent investment in UnitedHealth shows that even in his twilight years, he still has the value-investing discipline to bet on U.S. blue-chip stocks at their weakest moments. UnitedHealth also happens to be a top holding in DSTL. This actively managed value ETF does not track an index. Instead, it uses a proprietary free cash flow yield methodology to select value stocks with quality traits.
“Our process is really designed to systematically own a group of companies that mimic Buffett’s quality and value style with long-term returns as a priority,” explains Thomas Cole, co-founder at Distillate Capital Partners. “In that context, free cash flow is the ultimate measure of the performance of a business, and that is exactly what we assess when considering the prices stocks are trading for.”
VistaShares Target 15 Berkshire Select Income ETF (OMAH)
“Overall, we believe the outlook for Berkshire over the coming years remains extremely bullish,” Patti says. “In fact, the CEO change itself may be viewed as a net positive over time given how well-respected Greg Abel is and how he has been trained by the best over the last 30-plus years.” Investors can earn income from Berkshire’s public equity portfolio via OMAH, which targets a 15% annual yield.
This ETF holds longstanding Buffett stocks such as Apple, American Express Co. (AXP), Coca-Cola Co. (KO) and Chevron Corp. (CVX), while also selling options to generate income. “I don’t anticipate many significant changes in Berkshire’s investment strategy, particularly within the existing portfolio,” Patti says. “The consensus is that Abel has been running the day-to-day for some time now as it is.”
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6 ETFs to Invest Like Warren Buffett originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 08/29/25: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
