2025's Most-Read Investor Updates: The New Tax Law, Buffett and More

by Charles Rotblut | January 01, 2026

Featured Tickers:

BRK.B

What captured AAII members’ attention in 2025? The five most-read Investor Update commentaries covered many topics important to individual investors, from the new tax law to Warren Buffett to the S&P 500 index’s historical trends. Today, I am revisiting the essential lessons I wrote about during the past year.

#1. This year’s most-read Investor Update focused on the key tax changes made by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). This is not surprising given the large number of changes introduced in the bill and the timing of the commentary—published just a few weeks after the OBBBA’s passage. I wanted to get these changes out early so AAII members had time to adjust their tax planning.

#2. Coming in close second was my article on the six lessons investors can learn from Buffett. This was written right after Buffett surprised the investing world by announcing his retirement. It is hard for me to single out one lesson in the commentary as my favorite, but if pressed, I would highlight Buffett’s long-term approach to investing. We individual investors can use time as an advantage because what matters is achieving our goals, not what the quarterly or annual performance of portfolios is. Never underestimate how helpful to wealth creation this is.

#3. Investor Update commentaries about Buffett were popular this year. “Buffett’s Cash Problem Isn’t Your Problem” was written following the release of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.’s (BRK.B) 2024 annual report. The conglomerate ended 2024 with $330.8 billion in cash and U.S. Treasury bills. Berkshire Hathaway’s sheer size makes it difficult for the company to establish new meaningful positions in stocks. We individual investors do not have this problem. It’s an advantage we should never underestimate.

#4. Mid-cap stocks are often overlooked, but many of you showed interest in “33 Top-Graded Mid-Cap Dividend Payers.” This Investor Update looked at the then 264 dividend payers in the S&P MidCap 400 index. While close to half of the stocks in this group were trading at expensive valuations based on their dividend yield, there were 33 mid-caps with attractive valuations, good dividend growth and financial strength. It is proof that dividend investors can help themselves by looking beyond large caps for attractive investment ideas.

#5. The S&P 500 was on track to enjoy its third consecutive year of double-digit gains as we approached Christmas last week. This good performance followed a 26.3% rise in 2023 and a 25.0% jump in 2024. Back-to-back years with gains greater than 20% among large-company stocks have only occurred nine times over the past 100 years. Though some might seek patterns in this data, history shows that the stock market has instead followed a random walk following those periods.

Have a happy, healthy and prosperous 2026. Be sure to eat some black-eyed peas on New Year’s Day!

Discussion

Barry from TX posted 7 months ago:

Charles, PAIRING two articles separated by almost 50 years to help us see the larger arc of markets is very instructive. #1 The seminal AAII article “The Position of the Individual Investor,” from the 2nd issue of AAII Journal Mar–Apr 1979 sets forth the basis for AAII’s MISSION stated in 1978 as “the purpose of assisting individuals in becoming effective managers of their own assets through programs of education, information and research.” #2 “Warren Buffett and the Evolution of Value Investing” from 2021 sets forth similar, if not the same principles, Buffett LEARNED from Ben Graham and Charlie Munger and practiced with the same discipline AAII advocates. Together, these rmoredly located bookends prove the success of the “ONE LESSON” in your commentary: “individual investors can use TIME as an advantage because what matters is achieving our goals, not what the quarterly or annual performance of portfolios is. Never underestimate how helpful to wealth creation this is.” #3 The BRK article on how Buffett created “a model portfolio” demonstrates the practical application of AAII principles BEFORE Buffett became famous. #4 Charles, thanks for helping us see the obvious parallels and “Lesson One” rewards. #5 Season's Greetings to all the AAII family who work hard to serve members and share the Mission. #6 I hope the 2024-2026 trifecta eventually materializes as expected.

Barry from TX posted 7 months ago:

Charles, we have another supporter for your observed parallelisms between Buffett and AAII investment strategies. #1 A 12/24/25 WSJ article “How to Invest Like Warren Buffett” Spencer Jakab outlines research by Kai Wu of Sparkline Capital who calculates that BRK’s publicly traded stock PF has beaten the market by 3%/Yr since 1978—a significant edge, slang for the more formal term “alpha” that measures excess/abnormal return an investment strategy's ability to outperform a market benchmark adjusted for risk (volatility). #2 Wu’s explanation of legendary Buffett’s “edge” involves investing in a strategy of investing in 2 of the 6 most common investing factors [alpha, beta, QUALITY, VALUE, momentum, and size]. #3 Buffett’s strategy had positive exposure to only the intangible factors QUALITY and VALUE. Buffett’s exposure to MO and SIZE has been negative (he doesn’t chase hot stocks or small caps). #4 Here’s the big surprise and the potential good news: Only 0.4% of Buffett's total return has been due to Buffett’s alpha — investing skill. You can’t bottle that, but Wu says that yo can model it by (1) selecting the Top 20% of stocks in the benchmark (say Top 100 of SPX 500) and (2) using a simple 2-intangible factors model -- QUA and VAL -- to capture Buffett's magic. Does this sound familiar? It's a combination of Graham's 1949, Buffett's 1967, and AAII's 1978 strategies. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

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