Had You Parked $10,000 in This Vanguard ETF When Warren Buffett Recommended It in 2014, Here's How Much You'd Have Today
Key Points
Warren Buffett grew the Berkshire Hathaway holding company into a $1 trillion conglomerate between 1965 and 2025.
Buffett consistently recommends index funds for everyday investors who are looking for steady long-term returns.
In early 2014, Buffett suggested the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF for its extremely low cost, and investors who bought it back then would have done extremely well.
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Warren Buffett is one of the world's most iconic investors. He served as the chief executive officer of the Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRKA)(NYSE: BRKB) holding company from 1965 to 2025. It grew into a $1 trillion conglomerate over that 60-year period, with numerous subsidiaries and a $335 billion stock portfolio.
During Buffett's tenure, Berkshire stock delivered a compound annual return of 19.7%, meaning an investment of $1,000 in 1965 would have grown into a whopping $48.4 million by the time he stepped down. However, Buffett was a full-time professional, so he knew the average investor would struggle to replicate his performance.
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As a result, he often recommends investors buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks an index like the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC), instead of picking individual stocks. In Berkshire's 2013 annual report (published in February 2014), he even specifically suggested the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (NYSEMKT: VOO), because of its extremely low cost.
Had an investor parked $10,000 in the ETF when Warren Buffett recommended it, here's how much they would have today.
Image source: The Motley Fool.
A diversified index fund for investors of all experience levels
The S&P 500 index is made up of 500 companies from 11 different sectors of the economy, so it's highly diversified. It has very strict entry criteria, requiring that companies maintain profitability and a market capitalization of at least $22.7 billion (among other requirements). But even after ticking those boxes, a special committee has the final say over which companies are included, to ensure the index maintains a high-quality composition.
The S&P is weighted by market capitalization, so the largest companies in the index have a much greater influence over its performance than the smallest. That's why the information technology sector has the highest weighting in the S&P; it's home to Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Broadcom, and Micron Technology, which have a combined market cap of $15.4 trillion.
Below are the top five S&P 500 sectors, along with their weightings in the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and their three largest constituents:
|
Sector |
Vanguard ETF Sector Weighting |
Largest Companies |
|---|---|---|
|
Information Technology |
38.6% |
Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft |
|
Financials |
11.3% |
Berkshire Hathaway, JPMorgan Chase, Visa |
|
Communication Services |
10.4% |
Alphabet, Meta Platforms, Netflix |
|
Consumer Discretionary |
9.7% |
Amazon, Tesla, Home Depot |
|
Industrials |
8.3% |
Caterpillar, GE Aerospace, GE Vernova |
Data source: Vanguard. Sector weightings are accurate as of May 31, 2026, and are subject to change.
The other six sectors are healthcare, consumer staples, energy, utilities, materials, and real estate.
Listening to Warren Buffett would have paid off
The S&P 500 has generated a compound annual return of 10.5% (including dividends) since it was established in 1957, but it has delivered an even faster gain of 12.9% per year since Buffett recommended the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF in 2014.
That means an investor who parked $10,000 in the ETF 12 years ago would be sitting on around $42,887 today, minus fees. Speaking of which, the ETF has an expense ratio of just 0.03%, so investors would incur an annual fee of just $3 for every $10,000 invested in the fund. Simply put, fees would have amounted to a rounding error over the last 12 years.
It's not unrealistic to expect similar returns going forward, given the incredible strength in industries like artificial intelligence, which could be in the early stages of a multi-year boom. Several other potentially valuable technologies are also in the pipeline, including autonomous vehicles, robotics, and quantum computing, which could become key sources of upside for the S&P 500 in the future.
Investing in an index fund like the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF gives investors ample exposure to high-growth opportunities, with a healthy splash of diversification through hundreds of stocks in more defensive areas of the economy.
In summary, it isn't too late for investors to take Buffett's advice, because it's absolutely still relevant 12 years on.
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JPMorgan Chase is an advertising partner of Motley Fool Money. Anthony Di Pizio has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Berkshire Hathaway, Broadcom, Caterpillar, GE Aerospace, GE Vernova, Home Depot, JPMorgan Chase, Meta Platforms, Micron Technology, Netflix, Nvidia, Tesla, Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, and Visa. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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