This Is Warren Buffett's Best Investing Advice, and It's More Important Than Ever Right Now

When Warren Buffett offers investing advice, it pays to listen. The stock market has been especially confusing lately, with the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC) reaching record highs, new lows, and then more record highs all within a matter of weeks.

While even Buffett can't predict what the market will do throughout the rest of 2026, he can offer some timeless advice to guide investors through the ups and downs.

Image source: The Motley Fool.

Buffett's best advice for navigating volatility

Buffett has offered countless investing tips throughout his decades-long career, but one common theme is his insistence on maintaining a long-term outlook.

In 2008, he wrote an opinion piece for The New York Times to help reassure Americans discouraged by the Great Recession. In it, he reminded investors that while the short-term pain of the recession was valid, the market's long-term potential is far more important:

[I]nvestors are right to be wary of highly leveraged entities or businesses in weak competitive positions. But fears regarding the long-term prosperity of the nation's many sound companies make no sense. These businesses will indeed suffer earnings hiccups, as they always have. But most major companies will be setting new profit records 5, 10 and 20 years from now.

Since that piece was published, the S&P 500 has earned total returns of close to 1,000%.

^SPX data by YCharts

Stock market volatility is unnerving, and many investors are worried about a potential market crash or recession in 2026, fueled by persistently high inflation and surging oil prices. But the market has faced worse in the past, and it's always managed to thrive over time.

The one move to avoid, according to Buffett

If there's one incredibly risky move right now, it's trying to time the market. On paper, this strategy may seem smart. If you can sell your stocks during the market's peaks and then "buy the dip" during the downturns, you could make a hefty profit.

Now more than ever, though, it's impossible to know what the market will do in the short term. In early 2020, for example, the S&P 500 experienced one of the fastest crashes in history when it lost roughly one-third of its value in a matter of weeks. By the end of the year, though, it was up by nearly 13%.

^SPX data by YCharts

Something similar happened in April of last year because of uncertainty around President Trump's "Liberation Day" tariffs. The S&P 500 quickly plunged into correction territory, only to rebound almost immediately when Trump walked back many of those tariffs.

Now, with the war in Iran causing uncertainty around oil prices, the market is shaky once again. The constant barrage of promising news followed by setbacks has caused wild swings across global markets, and nobody -- even the experts -- can say what will happen over the coming months.

Selling your stocks during any of these periods may have seemed like a smart idea, as many investors expected the market to fall into a much deeper downturn. But because the market quickly rebounded in many of these incidents, you'd have missed out on the lucrative recovery period.

^SPX data by YCharts

Buffett's best advice for dealing with these types of fluctuations is to simply ride out the storm and stay invested for the long haul.

As he wrote in the Times piece:

I can't predict the short-term movements of the stock market. I haven't the faintest idea as to whether stocks will be higher or lower a month or a year from now. What is likely, however, is that the market will move higher, perhaps substantially so, well before either sentiment or the economy turns up. So if you wait for the robins, spring will be over.

The U.S. may enter a recession in 2026, or the market may reach new heights throughout the rest of the year. Rather than trying to guess where stocks are headed, it's far safer to stick it out through the volatile periods to reap the rewards of the recoveries.

Katie Brockman has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.