Warren Buffett isn’t buying American - should you?

Warren Buffett, the second richest man in the world, has outlined his plans for Berkshire Hathaway's £23.6bn cash pile - and he's not planning to invest any of it at home, says MoneyWeek editor Merryn Somerset Webb. So if he's not planning to buy American - should you?

Last week was an important one for the residents of Omaha. For most of the year this mediocre little town in Nebraska is of no interest to the rest of the world, but last week its airport was a hive of activity, its hotels were booked out and you couldn't get a reservation in any of its uninspiring restaurants for love nor money.

Why? Because Omaha is the home town of Warren Buffett, America's most famous investor and the world's second richest man (after Bill Gates), as well as the location of the annual shareholder meeting of his investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway.

Subscribe to MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/mw70aro6gl1676370748.jpg

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up
Merryn Somerset Webb

Merryn Somerset Webb started her career in Tokyo at public broadcaster NHK before becoming a Japanese equity broker at what was then Warburgs. She went on to work at SBC and UBS without moving from her desk in Kamiyacho (it was the age of mergers).

After five years in Japan she returned to work in the UK at Paribas. This soon became BNP Paribas. Again, no desk move was required. On leaving the City, Merryn helped The Week magazine with its City pages before becoming the launch editor of MoneyWeek in 2000 and taking on columns first in the Sunday Times and then in 2009 in the Financial Times

Twenty years on, MoneyWeek is the best-selling financial magazine in the UK. Merryn was its Editor in Chief until 2022. She is now a senior columnist at Bloomberg and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast -  but still writes for Moneyweek monthly. 

Merryn is also is a non executive director of two investment trusts – BlackRock Throgmorton, and the Murray Income Investment Trust.