This is getting tough to stomach…

Warren Buffett (the man who’s been America’s financial emotional-support grandpa since before half of present day Wall Street analysts were even born) just announced he’s “going quiet” after this year. And by “quiet,” he means he’ll only pop up for his annual Thanksgiving letter and the occasional drive-by insult toward Bitcoin, which love it or hate it, respect.

He’s 95 now, self-described “old af,” still hobbling into the office every day like the routine refuses to let him go. And with Greg Abel set to take over in just 26 days, you can feel the handoff coming. The Buffett farewell tour is officially on its last encore.

But instead of drifting into retirement on a red carpet rolled out by compounding interest itself, the market dropped a whole banana peel in front of Berkshire’s rocker. Somehow (and I don’t know who wrote this script) the $1.2 trillion empire Buffett built might actually lose to the S&P 500 in the exact year he retires. The stock market really woke up and said, “You know what would be funny?”

In early May, Berkshire was clowning the S&P by a full 22 percentage points. Buffett could have held a press conference wearing Air Monarchs and a victory crown, and no one would’ve questioned it. Then Berkshire wandered into traffic… down nearly 15% over three months, hitting $459.11 like it briefly forgot how to behave as a $1.2 trillion company.

Berkshire has recovered (up 9.9% off the lows and 11.3% on the year) but the S&P has been on a full sprint, rising 37.9% since April and pushing toward fresh record territory. Once you include dividends (Buffett’s favorite detail), the index is up 18.2% year-to-date.

Translation: Berkshire is still trailing by almost 7 points with two and a half weeks to go. The market really said, “Happy retirement, old man… try to catch me.”

And just like that, the analysts started circling. One even dropped a rare sell rating on Berkshire, which is as close as Wall Street gets to openly sobbing. Now everyone’s muttering about “inadequate disclosure” and “succession uncertainty,” as if Greg Abel’s first day is going to involve him flipping a coin to make decisions.

And in the middle of all that noise, Buffett is working through his farewell letters. He says he’s feeling good, just slowing down a bit, and still moves $1.3 billion in stock out the door on a daily basis before most people are pouring their first cup of coffee. That leaves $148.7 billion for his children to allocate over the coming years (or their pockets in the form of what I like to call “backdoor” charities).

Which brings us to the big question: is Warren Buffett’s legacy actually in danger? Honestly, that’s like wondering whether Michael Jordan’s legacy hinges on his final season with the Washington Wizards. Sure, the ending wasn’t glamorous… but we’re really pretending the six rings (and the mid-career baseball detour) don’t count?

In my opinion, Buffett’s record is the same story. His reputation survived the dot-com implosion, the housing crisis, Lehman disappearing overnight, crypto disasters, and even Cathie Wood predicting Tesla would violate the laws of physics on its way to $15k. Nothing shook him then, and nothing’s shaking him now.

If anything, Berkshire trailing the S&P this year feels almost poetic, like the market giving him one final nod and saying, “You taught everyone patience… now it’s your turn.”

At the time of publishing this article, Stocks.News holds positions in Bitcoin as mentioned in the article.