📖Warren Buffett

Concentrated Portfolio

🌿 Intermediate★★★★☆

A concentrated portfolio of deeply understood businesses outperforms broad diversification.

💬

Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.

— 1996 Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting，1996

🏠 Everyday Analogy

Just like a peerless master in martial arts novels, it is better to specialize in one unique skill than to dabble superficially in all eighteen types of weapons. The same principle applies to investing: beginners need to cast a wide net for safety, while masters should concentrate all their chips on the few most promising targets, delivering a decisive strike.

📖 Core Interpretation

For different types of investors: ordinary investors should diversify (by purchasing index funds), while professional investors may concentrate (by focusing capital on the most promising opportunities).
💎 Key Insight：Owning 50 stocks means you barely understand any of them. Owning 10 means you can know each one deeply. Buffett argues that your best ideas deserve your biggest allocations. Why put the same amount in your 20th-best idea as your best one? Concentration requires conviction and research, but the payoff is knowing exactly what you own and why.

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❓ Why It Matters

Buffett's Practice: The Top 5 Holdings of Berkshire Hathaway Account for Over 60% of Its Portfolio, with Apple Once Representing More Than 40%

🎯 How to Practice

Prerequisites for concentrated investing: 1. You truly understand these companies. 2. You have conducted sufficiently in-depth research. 3. You can withstand volatility. 4. You do not use leverage.

🎙️ Master's Voice

Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.
At one point, Buffett had 75% of Berkshire's equity portfolio in just 5 stocks. He believes that if you truly understand a business, concentrating makes more sense than diversifying into businesses you know less well. His top holdings—Apple, Bank of America, Coca-Cola—dominate the portfolio.

⚔️ Practical Guide

✅ Decision Checklist

  • Do I understand my top 5 holdings better than any analyst?
  • Am I diversifying out of conviction or fear?
  • Would I be comfortable if my top holding doubled in weight?
  • Do my smaller positions deserve to be in the portfolio?

📋 Action Steps

  1. Limit portfolio to 10-15 positions maximum
  2. Make top 5 positions at least 50% of portfolio
  3. Eliminate positions you wouldn't add to today
  4. Track your hit rate by position size

🚨 Warning Signs

  • Owning 30+ stocks "just in case"
  • Equal-weighting positions regardless of conviction
  • Adding new positions without selling existing ones
  • Diversifying into areas you don't understand

⚠️ Common Pitfalls

✕Buffett opposes diversification—what he actually opposes is "excessive diversification into stocks one does not understand."
✕Concentrated investing is suitable for everyone - only for investors capable of conducting in-depth research.

📚 Case Studies

1
Buffett Liquidated Partnership in 1969 (1969)
Once accounting for over 40% of Berkshire Hathaway's investment portfolio
✨ Outcome：It is a highly concentrated bet.
2
Cash Ready for 2008 Opportunities (2008)
Only a handful of stocks
✨ Outcome：Including Berkshire Hathaway, Costco, and others.

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