In a previous article, I wrote that Mr. Buffett believes: A good company's stock price being lower than its intrinsic value is only temporary, and over time, the undervalued price will eventually reflect its true intrinsic value.
This is the fundamental reason why Buffett has never abandoned the US stock market for decades and has always kept the majority of his positions in US stocks.
When investors continued to ask Buffett why undervalued prices would rise over time to reflect intrinsic value, Buffett said:
He believes that as long as the United States adheres to a market economy and the rule of law, this point holds true—this is Buffett's ultimate belief in investing in US stocks.
Buffett said that if he were born in another country (such as Bangladesh), this would not hold true.
In fact, not just in the US stock market, but in any investment market, to be immersed in it for the long term and be able to profit consistently without being blinded by temporary setbacks and fluctuations, one must ultimately have a core belief.
If investors do not have such an ultimate belief in their hearts, they cannot make money in the investment market, as even the slightest breeze could shake them out.
This sounds easy to say, but is extremely difficult to do.
During Buffett's lifetime, the United States witnessed the Soviet Union launching the first artificial satellite, experienced the social unrest of the 1960s, became entangled in the Vietnam War in the 1970s, saw the collapse of the Bretton Woods system, was powerless against the Soviet Union's aggressive expansion, and was forced to extend an olive branch to Beijing...
Each of these events created massive waves in American society, repeatedly shaking people's beliefs, with even some so-called social elites beginning to question the system:
The market economy is not working, and the Soviet-style planned economy is humanity's hope...
Facing so many doubts and challenges, Buffett repeatedly stated in his shareholder letters: He believed in entrepreneurs under the American system and believed these entrepreneurs could create miracles.
Buffett's belief was entirely correct:
Silicon Valley had Fairchild Semiconductor, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, Google, Facebook, NVIDIA...
And the once seemingly aggressive Soviet Union, when its surface was peeled back, was revealed to be nothing more than an empty shell.
Wall Street's experience was equally turbulent: the S&P 500 plummeted 15% in 1962, 36% between 68-72, 59% in 1973, a single-day 22% drop in 1987, the dot-com bubble burst in 2000, the 2007 financial crisis, the stock market crash triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020...
Each of these crises strongly impacted the US financial system, repeatedly shaking people's confidence, with every corner of society and every voice in the media saying:
The US stock market is finished, America is finished.
Facing the same doubts and challenges, Buffett repeatedly demonstrated brilliant achievements in his shareholder letters:
Coca-Cola continued to expand its global business map, American Express continued to harvest substantial profits, Berkshire Hathaway continued to create miracles in the investment market...
Compared to these countless upheavals and massive waves, what are the current challenges in the crypto ecosystem?
When encountering setbacks, it's important to reflect on past cognitive errors, and the purpose of reflecting on errors is to better stay on the right path and make fewer mistakes in the future.
If considering this reflection on cognitive errors as doubt, it only shows that past "beliefs" were fake.
When there is no solid belief in one's heart, seeing the sun temporarily obscured by clouds makes one think the world will be permanently dark. In such a mindset, it's not surprising to read straightforward text and interpret it oppositely.
The Sixth Patriarch Huineng said: "It is not the wind moving, nor the banner moving, but the mind of the virtuous that moves."
I would modify this: "It is not the article moving, nor the author moving, but the wavering heart that moves."
