We have all made investing mistakes.
Bought a stock too high, held onto some for too long, or simply missed an industry shift we did not see coming.
The difference is, when Warren Buffett does it, the whole world finds out. His recent comments on Kraft Heinz (NASDAQ: KHC) reminded me that mistakes are not just part of our journey as small investors, they are part of his too.
My own mistakes
One of my earliest mistakes was buying shares in an online entertainment service and streaming platform.
I liked the content it produced and thought it was bound to succeed despite its poor financials.
I convinced myself that the company would eventually turn things around.
Well, the stock kept falling, and I eventually learned the painful truth: liking a company and liking its financials are two very different things.
It was a good lesson that I have carried with me ever since.
Warren Buffett’s billion-dollar stumble
Buffett is facing a similar humbling experience today.
Back in 2015, Berkshire Hathaway and private equity firm 3G Capital decided to merge two food giants: Kraft Foods and H.J. Heinz.
The plan sounded great on paper. Combine powerhouse brands like Heinz ketchup, Kraft mac and cheese, and Oscar Mayer hot dogs, then slash costs to boost profits.
What nobody saw coming was how fast shoppers would abandon processed foods for fresher, healthier options.
Kraft Heinz couldn’t keep up.
While competitors innovated, they sat still.
The result?
A share price that’s tumbled nearly 70% since the merger — and this week, Buffett finally admitted his disappointment.
Here’s the thing: if Warren Buffett can make a mistake this big, what chance do the rest of us have of keeping a perfect record?
None.
And that’s actually fine.
What matters isn’t avoiding every misstep. It is learning from them.
The key is to recognise what went wrong, draw the right lessons, and keep moving forward.
Here are three lessons from Buffett’s Kraft Heinz bet that every investor can use.
Lesson 1: Even the best can overpay
Buffett admitted that Berkshire overpaid for Kraft Heinz.
The deal looked promising, but the price tag meant returns were handicapped from the start.
In a sense, it is like paying US$20 for a US$10 business.
Even if the business performs reasonably well, you are unlikely to make a good return.
The same risk may be present today in hot sectors such as AI or electric vehicles, where valuations often run far ahead of earnings.
The lesson is simple: no matter how exciting the story, the price you pay matters.
Lesson 2: Change is constant
When Kraft Heinz launched in 2015, those brands seemed bulletproof.
Heinz ketchup had been around for over a century. Kraft mac and cheese was an American staple.
Who could imagine them losing their grip?
But consumer tastes shifted faster than expected.
People started reading labels, shopping the fresh food aisles, and cooking from scratch.
Suddenly, processed foods weren’t just unhealthy — they were uncool.
Here’s the truth: these changes happen all the time.
Remember when everyone carried a digital camera?
Now it’s just your phone.
CDs and music stores disappeared once Spotify arrived.
Even banking changed.
Do you remember the last time you visited a bank branch instead of using your banking app?
The lesson here isn’t to predict every change. Nobody can do that.
It’s to ask yourself: does this company have the flexibility to adapt when its industry shifts?
Because it will shift — it always does.
Lesson 3: Mistakes do not define you, your response does
Warren Buffett might have slipped up with Kraft Heinz, but his long-term record is still intact.
One poor bet did not undo decades of compounding.
The same principle applies to us.
A bad stock pick hurts, but it does not sink your portfolio if you stay diversified and disciplined.
In fact, mistakes often sharpen your judgment for the next opportunity.
When I lost money on that streaming company, it taught me to put fundamentals first.
Today, I would rather buy a boring but profitable business than chase a glamorous story without earnings.
So the next time you make an investing mistake, and you will, remember that even Buffett does too. What matters is not avoiding every wrong turn, but staying invested, learning from the missteps, and letting time and compounding do their work.
Get Smart: One bad stock does not ruin a good portfolio
Every investor, including you and me, will end up with losers in the portfolio.
That is not the real problem.
Think of it like eating at a hawker centre.
Once in a while, you will order something that looked promising but turned out to be disappointing.
But that one bad meal does not mean the entire hawker centre is terrible.
There are still plenty of stalls serving amazing food.
It is the same with investing.
If you own 20 stocks and one turns sour, the strength of the other 19 can carry you forward.
That is the power of diversification.
Buffett’s mistake has not derailed Berkshire’s long-term success, and your one regrettable stock will not derail yours either.
The real danger is letting that one loss shake your confidence.
Learn the lesson, move on, and stay invested.
Over time, it is the winners you hold onto that build lasting wealth, not the losers you have already sold.
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Disclosure: Joanna Sng owns shares of Berkshire Hathaway.
