Warren Buffett: Cash Is Like Oxygen, If It Disappears For A Few Minutes It’s All Over

During his recent Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting, Warren Buffett explains why he always holds cash. Here’s an excerpt from the meeting:

Buffett: Going back to Q2 is we will always have a lot of cash on hand. And when I say cash I don’t mean commercial paper.

When 2008 and 2009 financial panic came along we didn’t own anybody’s commercial paper. We didn’t have money market funds. We didn’t… we have treasury bills and as I may get into a little later, I’ll explain to you why.

We believe in having cash and there have been a few times in history, and will be more times in history where if you don’t have it you know you don’t get to play the next day.

I mean it’s just, it’s like oxygen you know, it’s there all the time but if it disappears for a few minutes it’s all over.

You can watch the entire discussion here: