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Warren Buffett was once asked whether gold still had a place in modern investing. His response? It’s “just about the last thing I would want to own.”
The question came up during the 2005 Berkshire Hathaway annual meeting. An attendee wanted to know whether Buffett, as one of the world’s most influential investors, should acknowledge gold’s historical role as a financial foundation—especially in an era of inflation, asset bubbles, and rising instability. Buffett didn’t deny the risks, but he didn’t budge on the metal.
“I would much prefer owning 100 acres of land near here in Nebraska, or an apartment house, or an index fund,” he said.
For Buffett, it all comes down to utility. Gold, in his words, doesn’t produce anything. “If you owned gold, you paid $20 in 1900 or thereabouts,” he said. “Then we’ll say you had $400 a hundred years later. And in the meantime, you paid insurance and perhaps some storage cost.”
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Over that same stretch, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose from roughly 60 to over 11,000—delivering regular dividends along the way. “A farm has utility. An apartment house has utility. A business will produce earnings,” Buffett said.
Then he added a comparison that’s become one of his most memorable. “I’d rather have the ability to sell people a pound of candy 20 years from now,” he said. “And if they’re dealing in seashells, I’ll get an appropriate number of seashells instead of paper money for it.”
Buffett isn’t against hard assets. He just prefers ones that produce.
He still lives in the Omaha home he bought in 1958 for $31,500. Today, that property is estimated to be worth around $1.4 million, according to Zillow. While he hasn’t flipped it for profit, the home stands as a quiet example of long-term appreciation.
He’s also praised residential real estate more broadly. In a 2012 CNBC interview, he said that if he could buy a “couple hundred thousand single-family homes” with 30-year mortgages, he would. He called them “a very attractive asset class” and described fixed-rate loans as “the best instrument in the world.”
His criticism of non-productive assets has extended to cryptocurrency as well. “It doesn’t produce anything,” Buffett said of Bitcoin. “You just hope the next guy pays more.”
In 2020, some investors were surprised to see Berkshire Hathaway disclose a $565 million position in Barrick Gold, one of the world’s largest gold mining firms. But the stake was short-lived. Analysts widely viewed it as a tactical move by Buffett’s portfolio managers, not a reversal of his views. Most of the shares were sold off within a few quarters.
Arrived is a Jeff Bezos-backed platform that lets anyone invest in fractional shares of income-producing real estate for as little as $100. It lines up with the kind of productive assets Buffett has spent years highlighting. And while Buffett himself may not hold a large real estate portfolio, he’s been clear about the value that comes from assets that actually generate output.
Buffett doesn’t base his investments on scarcity or sentiment. He looks for cash flow, utility, and long-term output—whether it’s farmland, apartment units, or even candy.
Gold, he said, “hasn’t worked very well.” And he sees “no reason why it would work well in the future.” That’s why he ranks it “just about the last thing” he’d want to own.
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This article Warren Buffett Said Gold Is ‘Just About the Last Thing’ He’d Want to Own — He’d ‘Much Prefer’ Acres of Land, an Apartment or Candy Over the Precious Metal originally appeared on Benzinga.com