May 10, 2026
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When it comes to investing, even the best can get it wrong. Warren Buffett, widely considered the greatest investor of all time, recently made headlines not for a win, but for a frank admission of regret — a statement that has real implications for everyday investors navigating today’s turbulent markets.
In his first televised interview since stepping down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of 2025, Buffett sat down with CNBC’s Becky Quick on Squawk Box on March 31, 2026 — and didn’t hold back (1).
‘I sold it too soon’
During the interview, Buffett openly admitted that Berkshire’s decision to trim its Apple stake was a mistake. “I sold it too soon,” he told Quick — a rare public concession from a man who has built a US$700 billion-plus empire, in part, by preaching the value of holding great businesses for the long term (1).
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By the end of 2025, Berkshire had reduced its Apple position to a value of approximately US$61.96 billion (roughly C$86 billion). Before the reduction, Apple made up 40% of Berkshire’s entire portfolio (1). Despite the reduction, the tech giant remains Berkshire’s single largest holding, representing about 23% of the conglomerate’s stock portfolio (2).
“I’m very happy to have it [Apple] be our largest holding,” Buffett said during the interview. “I was not happy to have it be as large as almost everything else combined.”
That pressure — between wanting concentration in a winning stock but avoiding dangerous overexposure — is something Canadian retail investors regularly face, whether they’re holding Apple stock directly through a registered account, or simply managing a portfolio weighted toward a handful of favourite names.
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Would Buffett buy more? Yes — but not yet
Following his concession on selling too early, Buffett made it clear that he hasn’t closed the door on adding to Berkshire’s Apple position. Timing remains the obstacle, however.
“It’s not impossible that Apple would get to a price, we would buy a lot of it,” Buffett said. “But not in this market.”
His hesitation is grounded in valuation. As he explained to Quick, Apple stock remained unattractive to him even after falling nearly 15% from its recent high — and after dropping more than 6% through March alone (2). Meanwhile, Berkshire’s new CEO, Greg Abel, confirmed in a recent letter to shareholders that Apple is one of the core positions the company expects to hold with limited trading activity going forward (2).
Buffett made his comments in the middle of an unusually choppy stretch for global equity markets. Both the S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite have been under pressure, pulled lower by the ongoing conflict in Iran and its effect on oil prices and supply chain disruption. However, the S&P 500 still managed to advance 3.4% in the week ending April 2, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq added 3% and 4.4%, respectively, following a five-week slide (3).
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For Canadian investors, the picture is somewhat different. The S&P/TSX Composite Index has shown relative resilience during this volatile stretch, supported by Canada’s heavy weighting in energy and materials — sectors that have actually benefited from elevated oil prices tied to Iran-related supply uncertainty (4). As Matt Kacur, president of FSA Valuation Service, noted during an April 6, 2026 interview with BNN Bloomberg: “Canada is probably the number one supplier in terms of stability and quantity across a number of factors (5).”
Buffett’s biggest regrets aren’t about what he sold
Buffett’s Apple admission isn’t his first public reckoning with investment regret. During Berkshire’s 2001 annual meeting, when asked about his worst investment, he offered an answer that has stayed with investors ever since.
“The biggest mistakes are the ones that actually don’t show up,” he said. “They’re the mistakes of omission rather than commission (6).”
He explained that Berkshire had never lost enormous sums on a single bad investment, but it had, at times, missed life-changing gains by failing to act when the evidence was clear. “We have missed profits of maybe $10 billion in things that I knew enough to do, and I didn’t do,” he said.
The difference between the visible mistake of selling too early and the invisible mistake of never buying is worth consideration, no matter the size of your portfolio.
What this means for Canadian investors
Buffett’s Apple story carries lessons that translate directly to Canadians — here are the key takeaways for investors managing portfolios of any size:
Know where you hold your U.S. stocks
Apple shares aren’t listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). Canadian investors who want direct exposure to the company’s stock must hold it through a brokerage account that provides access to U.S. exchanges.
For those who prefer Canadian-dollar exposure, Apple is available as a Canadian Depositary Receipt (CDR) on the NEO Exchange under the ticker AAPL. CDRs are currency-hedged and denominated in Canadian dollars, making them a more accessible option for registered accounts like a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) or Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP). (6)
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To get started, open a no-fee RRSP high-interest savings account with EQ Bank. For a limited time, get up to $200 cash when you add new deposits to your EQ Bank RRSP account.
Understand the tax difference between account types
Where you hold a U.S. stock like Apple matters enormously at tax time.
- RRSP: Under the Canada–U.S. Tax Treaty, U.S. dividend withholding tax is generally waived on U.S. stocks held directly in an RRSP. This makes the RRSP the most efficient place to hold dividend-paying U.S. equities (7).
- TFSA: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) treats a TFSA as tax-free for Canadian purposes, but the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doesn’t recognize TFSAs as retirement accounts. As a result, a 15% U.S. withholding tax applies to any U.S. dividends paid into a TFSA — and that tax cannot be recovered through a foreign tax credit (7). However, capital gains within a TFSA remain completely tax-free in Canada.
- Non-registered accounts: Capital gains from selling U.S. stocks like Apple are taxable in Canada. Under current rules, 50% of any capital gain is included in taxable income and taxed at your marginal rate. For the 2025 and 2026 tax years, the 50% inclusion rate applies to individuals — the proposed increase to 66.67% was cancelled by Prime Minister Mark Carney on March 21, 2025 (8).
Don’t try to time the market — even Buffett gets it wrong
Buffett’s Apple regret is a lesson in the limits of market timing, even for the very best. He trimmed a position in a company he admired and understood deeply — and still sold too early. For Canadian investors without Berkshire’s research resources, the risk of trimming a winning position prematurely is even higher.
Avoid the mistake of omission
Buffett’s deeper regret — the US$10 billion in opportunities he identified but never acted on — is a reminder that inaction carries its own cost. If you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the “perfect” moment to add to a position or begin investing, data consistently shows that time in the market outperforms timing the market.
Consider your total exposure — and rebalance with intention
Just as Berkshire found itself uncomfortably concentrated in Apple, individual Canadian investors can fall into similar traps. If a single stock — whether a Canadian bank, an energy company or a U.S. tech giant — has grown to dominate your portfolio, a disciplined rebalancing strategy can reduce risk without triggering unnecessary taxable events. Rebalancing inside a registered account (RRSP or TFSA) avoids capital gains tax entirely.
Bottom line
Buffett’s Apple admission is a good reminder that even the most experienced investors can make mistakes, and that both acting too soon and failing to act carry real potential costs. For everyday Canadian investors, the takeaway isn’t to obsess over timing. Rather, it’s to have a clear strategy before you buy, and a distinct reason to sell.
Practically speaking, where you hold U.S. stocks is as important as the ones you own. Keep dividend-paying U.S. equities in an RRSP to shield them from a withholding tax, while a TFSA completely shelters capital gains. If your portfolio has drifted toward heavy concentration in a single brand, rebalancing inside a registered account lets you reduce risk without triggering a taxation event.
And if you’ve been sitting on the sidelines waiting for the perfect moment to act, Buffett’s deeper regret is good to remember: the most expensive mistakes are often the ones you never see — the opportunities you had but never took.
-With files from Melanie Huddart
Article sources
We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.
CNBC (1); Yahoo! Finance (2); Investopedia (3); Morningstar (4); BNN Bloomberg (5); Economic Times (6); RBC Wealth Management (7); Skyline Wealth Management (8)
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Chase is an Associate Editor for Wise Publishing. He formerly worked at Yahoo Canada as an editor on both the News and Sports teams.
