Why we can’t copy Warren Buffett

Try as we might, there are just some trades that Warren Buffett makes that we will never be able to copy, says John Stepek.

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Warren Buffett: the man with an edge
(Image credit: 2017 J. Kempin)

Warren Buffett is the only genuine household name in investment. Even people who've never once glanced at the financial pages know about the genial, folksy, Coke-swilling guru from Omaha, and the countless ordinary Americans who have become multi-millionaires by being early investors in his Berkshire Hathaway investment vehicle. So it's little wonder his every move is pored over.

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John Stepek

John Stepek is a senior reporter at Bloomberg News and a former editor of MoneyWeek magazine. He graduated from Strathclyde University with a degree in psychology in 1996 and has always been fascinated by the gap between the way the market works in theory and the way it works in practice, and by how our deep-rooted instincts work against our best interests as investors.

He started out in journalism by writing articles about the specific business challenges facing family firms. In 2003, he took a job on the finance desk of Teletext, where he spent two years covering the markets and breaking financial news.

His work has been published in Families in Business, Shares magazine, Spear's Magazine, The Sunday Times, and The Spectator among others. He has also appeared as an expert commentator on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, BBC Radio Scotland, Newsnight, Daily Politics and Bloomberg. His first book, on contrarian investing, The Sceptical Investor, was released in March 2019. You can follow John on Twitter at @john_stepek.