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Comment by bdangubic | Hacker News Reader

> One, you shouldn’t be storing wealth in cash-like instruments, that’s literally using currency wrong (and has been across human history). Cash is for transacting.

Talk to Mr. Buffet and see what he thinks about this with his mountain of cash… Cash being just transacting might be the most insane thing I’ve read here this year, well done

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I think it speaks volumes that Buffet has nowhere else to put that ~$382B in cash; that speaks more about current asset valuations ("everything bubble" [1]) more than that US cash is trash. If assets classes are inflated, US treasuries are no longer a safe haven, gold and other precious metals are overbought, where do you go? There is no immediate answer, imho, but only a slow burn as the world reconfigures around the US not being a superpower, the dollar not being a reserve currency, etc. As Workaccount2 comments downthread, "The dollar sucks but everything else sucks more. [2]"

[1] Look around: Bubbles are everywhere. - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46303596 - December 2025

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46407032

damn shit is really bad, sky is failing, bubbles are bursting… any other clickbait I need to read up on before I go spend the last of the good days with my kid…?

coolest thing about us in the 50’s is that we’ve seen and read this shit many times before and don’t fall the “bubble du jour” or “shit’s really bad this time…” - especially readers here on HN, bubbles be bursting for yeeeears now, recession is coming, crashes are coming… genuinely am sitting here scared and shook about Buffet hoarding cash, that never happened before…

I've lived through the '00 crisis, the '08 crisis, and a global pandemic. In all cases, there were signs the event was upon us, but you won't know for sure until the event is in full swing. The advice remains the same as it always does: carry as little debt as reasonably possible, don't overextend yourself without good reason, ensure sufficient liquid reserves, maximize employment and income opportunities, and have a strong network, both professional and community. Stay healthy to the best of your ability. Humans have existed for some time, we're going to exist for a while longer. I have many people who depend on me, and I'm prepared for anything short of global unexpected nuclear conflict. As long as you care, that's half the battle. Wishing you a favorable outcome.

Wishing you a favorable outcome too!!

I love pretend bubbles cause while everyone is waiting for them to burst one can make shitton of money

To be early or late is the same as being wrong, and I had a friend who lost everything trying to be right take their life when they were wrong. It is true, you have the potential to make money, and if you can afford it, who am I to stop you? But, you can also lose it all, and I hope that those who try don't. It's just numbers in a database after all. Gamble responsibly. There is always someone smarter or faster on the order book.

This is also the case with real bubbles.

100% - that is the case. except this current "bubble" has been "bubbling" for years now (just look at HN commenters since say 2023-ish). the funny thing is something at some point will happen and there will be a pullback in the market (it's been on a run for waaaaaay to long) and everyone will be like "hey hey hey, see, told ya so, this was bubble all along" except most people that say we are in a "bubble" cannot even define what the bubble is what will it meant for it to pop. Cisco-like?! That is too much?! Perhaps 1/2 of the Cisco!? 1/4? no one knows but for sure I am expecting (markets are that way) that whenever there is some form of pullback (large or very large or meh) HN will go nuts with "told ya so"

the funny thing is, if you were invested in this bull run, even 45% pullback (certainly possible) and say you are an idiot (or just clueless) with a stoploss - you'd still be handsomely up from where you started from...

Real bubbles also bubble for years. You have done nothing to disprove a real bubble.

so we were in a farm-it-by-hand bubble until we invented tractors? :)

I am not trying to disprove the bubble because that is as impossible, you can’t disprove something which doesn’t exist other than in people’s figments of imagination. and whatever happens in the future the bubble people will find a way to justify that it was a bubble all along and non-bubble people will say it is a normal market correction after yeeeears of bull market. makes the entire bubble discussion meaningless

"you can't disprove something that doesn't exist" - Great, so you believe in God then. And Russell's teapot. And a natural number called fentanum, whose successor is itself.

I do not believe in God but I cannot disprove that it exists, there is a slight difference between the two...

You can't prove there isn't a boogie monster under your bed

Yup. It’s wild seeing the internet chat about the latest flavor of the week of “the sky is falling”.

Try going back 1 year and look at those headlines. What you’ll find seem silly looking back.

this depends on which "headlines" you are looking at... if you are right/right-leaning your headlines from a year ago are much worse than those today, sky is falling, biden opened borders, immigrants are murdering 1/2 of the population, economy is shit, eggs are $20/piece...

a year later, if you are left/left-leaning your headlines are "sky is falling, democracy is dying, corruption is through the roof, the country is hanging on by a thread..." too funny to observe what has become of America...

Coolest thing about you in the 50s is that you’ve spent your grandkids’ money (and used up their resources and polluted their environments) so you wouldn’t have to face any consequences for your poor decisions.

Unfortunately your grand kids have run out of money and descendants to steal money from.

it is OK, I made enough for my grandkids and their grandkids so they'll be just fine. and all without stealing a penny from anyone (well this is a lie, I did steal a chocolate once from a grocery store to impress a girl but I think I'll be forgiven for that...)

If you're in your 50s you should have at least noticed that things have gotten progressively worse, if not for you (e.g. working in FAANG and getting by better than ever) for the majority in all kinds of ways in those 50 years: housing costs, healthcare, jobs, public debt, private debt, it's a huge list.

So, yeah, those "shit is really bad, sky is failing, bubbles are bursting" shit has been consistently right all those years, and it will get worse.

Of course some people only grok that things are bad when it happens to them personally. 80% of the people could be coughing blood outside their door, but as long as they get their bonuses, all is fine, as far as they're concerned.

> If you're in your 50s you should have at least noticed that things have gotten progressively worse...

This is exactly what I am saying, things have gotten progressively worse. The argument most people are making here is that the worse is not progressive, that it is somehow last 11 months that shit's been going really, really bad (just note how many people are talking about "degree" and "scale" of shit in this thread alone. As if somehow sky is falling right now and it was amazing before.

funny thing is - same people back in October during the election campaign were pitching how economy is "great" and how they do not understand how GOP can run on economy platform when US economy is doing amazing, much better recovery post-COVID than any other country without a doubt. now though, economy is really bad, just horrible, can't be any worse :) in both cases, the 80% of the people you are mentioning are suffering, they were in October and they are even more so now. but everyone is in their own bubble, the "opposition" (myself included) in the current political order is saying "oh shit's really bad now" and "ruling party" people are like "oh man, how great are things, tariffs are doing their thing, exports are up, imports are way down, market is red hot..." etc...

People born in different eras often develop different worldviews by the time they reach their 50s. Not everyone is lucky enough to be born in the "right time".

> Talk to Mr. Buffet and see what he thinks about this with his mountain of cash

When finance types say "cash," we mean cash and cash equivalents. Berkshire Hatahway doesn't literally hold cash, they hold yield-generating cash equivalents.

> Cash being just transacting might be the most insane thing I’ve read here this year, well done

I strongly recommend a home economics course if this is the case. If you want to go deeper, anything about monetary theory

> I strongly recommend a home economics course if this is the case. If you want to go deeper, anything about monetary theory

I have a degree in Finance so it is not all that necessary but maybe a 2025/26 refresher course will do me good :)

Does he really hold cash? Or does he hold TIPS for example, and people colloquially refer to it as "cash"? I assumed it's the latter since it makes much more sense.

> Does he really hold cash?

No. Berkshire Hathaway isn't a squirrel.

> people colloquially refer to it as "cash"?

Cash and cash equivlants are referred to in finance as cash, since they are–for all practical purposes–equal to it. Except yield generating. Which, if you're not an idiot, is how you hold cash.

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