2 Buffett Stocks I Don't Want to Own: A Personal Perspective

Warren Buffett is an investing genius. His long-term approach to owning stocks, close attention to fair values, and deep understanding of the underlying businesses added up to a stellar track record. Many investors keep a close eye on the Oracle of Omaha, ready to mirror his success by buying what he's buying and owning what he owns.

But what's right for Buffett and Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A -0.76%) (BRK.B -0.69%) isn't necessarily right for my thinner wallet and very different know-how. Some of the stocks in Buffett's portfolio would look quite alien in my own portfolio. Let me show you a couple of obvious examples.

Berkshire's ownership details provided by CNBC, financial data collected from Finviz.com on 7/4/2023.

Two Buffett stocks that don't interest me

Chevron and Bank of America may look very different, but they actually have a lot in common.

• They are among Berkshire's largest holdings.
• The stocks offer generous dividends. Chevron's effective yield is 3.8%, and Bank of America's yield stops at 3.1%.
• I have no idea how to evaluate banks and energy stocks. Therefore, these industry giants don't belong in my investment accounts.

I mean, both banking and energy production are incredibly complex businesses with tons of variables, a long and rich history, and many well-respected rivals.

If international money center banks are your field of expertise, feel free to follow Buffett's Bank of America buys, his smaller investments in Citigroup, or any of the credit card processors and Japanese financial giants he owns. You'll know when it's time to sell those money-handling titans long before regulatory filings show that Buffett walked away from them.

As a pure Buffett follower with no understanding of this business, I'd be lagging months behind the business reasons for each move, setting me up to buy high and sell low. No, thanks.

The same goes for Chevron. Everyone knows the brand, of course, but I couldn't tell you what sets this company apart from ExxonMobil. Buffett knows these business models inside and out, and I don't.

And maybe I'm overreacting due to my limited understanding of these particular industries, but don't they face game-changing challenges from cryptocurrencies and renewable energy sources? I'm always open to widening my investing horizons, but this doesn't look like the best time to go deep-dive researching business models in the middle of a massive sea change.

So I get that Buffett is pocketing plenty of dividend dollars and that he bought into these stocks on the cheap. Even if I wanted to follow his lead, I probably missed the boat by several years. No problem -- there are many other investment ideas that suit me better.

Learn from the best, but don't straight-up copy their moves

My personal portfolio doesn't overlap much with Buffett's. We only have three holdings in common: mobile network operator T-Mobile, e-commerce giant Amazon.com, and the market-tracking Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF.

That's all, and that's just fine. I can respect Warren Buffett's investing genius and take advantage of his long-term approach without copying every move he makes. And Buffett doesn't go out of his way to explain the rationale behind his investing decisions. In fact, he prefers to keep that reasoning under his vest.

At Berkshire's annual shareholder meeting this year, Buffett reiterated this longstanding policy when an investor wondered why Berkshire still owns Paramount stock after its dividend cuts.

"And how would you like to manage my money for nothing?" he said with a chuckle. "We are not in the business of giving stock advice to people, and people who don't know anything about the stocks can make a lot of money doing that. We don't think it's something we should give away."

It makes a ton of sense to follow Buffett's market moves like a hawk as long as you also analyze his picks and pans from a robust market understanding of your own. There are valuable lessons to be learned here, even if you don't slam the "buy" button on every stock Berkshire picks up.

You can learn to think like Warren Buffett, with a deep commitment to dispassionate business research and the patience of a saint. Just wrap that investor brain in experience and expertise from your own life, and you'll probably beat a strict Buffett-tracking strategy in the long run.

So while you might not have the resources or in-depth knowledge of Warren Buffett, remember that you do have your own unique insights and experiences that you can leverage in your investing strategy. Make use of these, stay informed, be patient, and you'll find your own path to investing success.

After all, even Warren Buffett started somewhere.