Yahoo Finance Elon Musk or Warren Buffett? Here’s What Jim Cramer Says About the Money Experts
Jim Cramer is one of America’s most recognizable financial experts. His show “Mad Money” has over 380,000 nightly viewers. They watch for Cramer’s strong opinions on the stock market.
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So what does he have to say about Elon Musk and Warren Buffett? Whom should you listen to? And what does that mean for your financial approach?
Cramer: Musk Is Brilliant, Buffett Is Straightforward
Cramer said the financial industry forgets past performance quickly. According to him, people praised Musk as a genius while Tesla shares were thriving. However, the stock has had a rough 2024, and skepticism of Musk has increased. Many also worry Musk is spreading himself too thin between Tesla, SpaceX and X (formerly Twitter).
Despite all of that, Cramer is still optimistic about Musk’s future potential, saying, “Even as Tesla struggles and its stock declines, I must remind everyone of Musk’s brilliance.” He’s essentially saying not to count Musk out just yet.
Buffett, on the other hand, has an indisputable track record, according to Cramer.
“Choosing Buffett is straightforward for investors,” Cramer said. “His strategies and the performance of Berkshire Hathaway are nothing short of magnificent.”
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Two Distinct Approaches
People like Cramer compare Musk and Buffett because their financial philosophies are almost direct opposites. Musk focuses on businesses that disrupt, while Buffett is the pre-eminent value investor.
For example, Musk invested in Tesla because he believed the future belonged to electric vehicles. He built SpaceX to help humanity explore and eventually colonize the solar system. Even his earliest venture, PayPal, was a highly disruptive financial platform in the early 2000s when he and his partners sold it to eBay.
Buffett rarely invests in these kinds of future-oriented businesses. He prefers buying proven companies at prices below their fair value. This approach has made Buffett extremely wealthy, as it has helped him consistently outperform the S&P 500 index over decades.
This means you can simplify the question of Musk vs. Buffett to growth vs. value investing. If you prefer investing in companies that build the future, Musk’s philosophy may be right for you. But if you’d rather buy tangible businesses with proven track records, Buffett’s approach will be the better option.
Should You Invest In Value or Growth Stocks?
No financial situations are entirely alike. That’s why your decision between growth and value stocks may depend on yours. As you consider which strategy is right for you, here are three factors to consider.
Current Market Conditions
First, consider where the stock market is today. Generally, growth stocks outperform in bull markets while value investments outperform in bear markets.
However, one approach can still outperform the other over long periods. For example, value stocks outperformed between 1970 and early 2007. You would have missed out on serious gains if you had bought only growth assets during that time.
Growth investments have dominated the stock market throughout the 2010s and 2020s. This can create recency bias, but it’s important to remember that past performance does not equal future results.
Your Investing Timeline
Another question to ask yourself is how long you want to hold the assets you’re going to purchase. Value stocks typically take longer to appreciate than growth stocks. However, they also tend to be less volatile.
If you want to be an active trader who buys and sells stocks frequently, growth could make more sense if you find the right entry point. If you’re looking for stocks you can hold until retirement, value could be a smarter move.
Your Technical Savvy
Finally, many growth stocks today represent technology companies. These businesses compete with one another to build the devices, software and hardware that will power the future.
The issue is that it can be difficult to pick the winners unless you understand the technology intimately. For example, will Meta or Apple be the premier hardware manufacturer for the future VR/AR industry? To decide, you’d have to have a good understanding of how their design approaches differed — not easy when the industry is still being built.
Final Take
Ultimately, Cramer’s comparison of Musk and Buffett is another iteration of the classic dilemma between growth and value stocks. But you don’t have to choose one over the other. You can invest in both types of companies or even market indices like the S&P 500, which hold assets from both categories in a single ETF.
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