Even though Warren Buffett is now retired as the chief executive officer of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A +0.28%)(BRK.B +0.20%), his lessons on investing will live on. He's now handed the company's reins over to new CEO Greg Abel. However, we have more than enough history through what Berkshire is invested in and his past comments to understand the Buffett investing style.
Berkshire Hathaway's current largest holdings include Apple (AAPL 0.93%), American Express (AXP +2.08%), Bank of America (BAC +0.72%), Coca-Cola (KO 0.06%), and Chevron (CVX +0.07%). Buffett has long favored individual companies backed by strong cash flows, durable balance sheets, economic moats, and some degree of value.
He's not an exchange-traded fund (ETF) investor, but what if he were?
For this, we need to sift through his public comments and past actions to get a sense of where he would put his money. In some cases, he's been quite specific. And that leads me to one Vanguard ETF I think Buffett would buy.
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Warren Buffett advocates for a 90/10 portfolio
Buffett has always favored an approach that emphasizes simplicity, low fees, and a long-term time horizon. This was clear in a 2013 letter to shareholders at the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting.
In discussing what he plans to do with the portion of his estate that will go to his wife upon his passing, he plans on taking an old-school approach:
My advice to the trustee could not be more simple: Put 10% of the cash in short-term government bonds and 90% in a very low-cost S&P 500 index fund. (I suggest Vanguard's.)
In a past article, I wrote about how this statement serves as a de facto endorsement of the Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO 0.08%). That covers the 90% part of the 90/10 portfolio. Now, let's take a look at the Vanguard ETF that can fit the 10% part.
Buffett would look for a Treasury Bill ETF
The ETF that Buffett would likely look to add is the Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF (VBIL +0.04%). The fund tracks the Bloomberg U.S. Treasury Bills 0-3 Months Index. As the name suggests, it invests in a portfolio of U.S. Treasury bills that have maturities of three months or less. It offers a dividend yield of 3.67% (as of Jan. 9, 2026) and comes with an expense ratio of 0.07%.
NASDAQ: VBIL
Key Data Points
It's not a terribly exciting fund by any stretch, but it fits in exactly with the Buffett investing style. In true Vanguard fashion, it's one of the cheapest ETFs in this category, something Buffett advises investors to seek out whenever possible.
We know from the Berkshire portfolio that Buffett is quite comfortable keeping large amounts of cash on hand to help take advantage of opportunities when they come up or when he doesn't find any particularly attractive investments. Pairing a Treasury bill ETF with an S&P 500 ETF lets investors keep some dry powder on hand in case stock prices pull back to more attractive levels.
And let's not discount the return that investors can still get with Treasury bills. It's not the 5% that they were paying a year or two ago, but the current 3.7% yield is more than adequate right now for a risk-free investment. In the post-COVID era, holding Treasury bills was essentially a sunk cost for a diversified portfolio because it offered no yield. Now, investors can capture a reasonable return that's above the current inflation rate while waiting on the sidelines.
In summary, Buffett's recent statements and actions suggest there are two types of ETFs he would buy -- the ultra-cheap S&P 500 ETF and a Treasury bill ETF. The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is perhaps the best in the business for investing in that index. Pairing it with the Vanguard 0-3 Month Treasury Bill ETF, an arrangement that Buffett has already said he would set up for his wife, looks like a winning combination.
