The poem Buffett reads when markets crash

Warren Buffett’s huge success as an investor has not come without its low moments. In his 2017 letter to shareholders, the Berkshire Hathaway CEO detailed the most painful downturns the company’s share price has endured.

They include a 51 per cent decline from September 2008 - March 2009, during the financial crisis. Buffett said the inability to time such declines is the strongest argument against using borrowed money to buy stocks.

But a major lesson from Buffett’s success is his focus on the long-term. He picked out lines from ‘If’ written by British Nobel laureate Rudyard Kipling in 1895. “No one can tell you when these [big declines] will happen,” Buffett said.