'Keep Your Head When All About You Are Losing Theirs': Here's Warren Buffett's Classic Advice As Stock Market Plunges on Tariff Announcement Warren Buffett's 2017 letter to shareholders has taken on new life after President Trump's tariff announcement.
By David James
The stock market is experiencing a second day of precipitous loss following Donald Trump's announcement of reciprocal tariffs. Per the Wall Street Journal, major U.S. indexes all dropped more than 3% in today's morning trading, with the Dow dropping 1400 points. European stocks fell more than 4%.
Though it seems like a good reason to panic, Berkshire Hathaway Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett would advise against it. While the Oracle of Omaha has called tariffs "an act of war," he has spoken and written extensively about finding opportunity in tumultuous times.
Related: Warren Buffett Is Still Living Up to His 'Oracle' Nickname
In his 2017 letter to shareholders, Buffett wrote: "There is simply no telling how far stocks can fall in a short period," adding, "When major declines occur, however, they offer extraordinary opportunities to those who are not handicapped by debt."
He went on to encourage shareholders to take in the message from a few lines of Rudyard Kipling's poem "If,":
If you can keep your head when all about you are losing theirs…
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting…
If you can think – and not make thoughts your aim…
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you…
Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it.
Buffett referenced his investment tactics during the Great Recession of 2008, and his now-classic op-ed for The New York Times, "Buy American. I am."
In that column, Buffett outlined his investing philosophy, explaining, "A simple rule dictates my buying: Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful."
