Want to Buy Shares of Warren Buffett's Investment Empire Before 2024 Is Over? Consider These 5 Magnificent Vanguard ETFs That Own Berkshire Hathaway Stock.

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Warren-Buffett-led Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) is known for holding sizable stakes in public equities such as Apple, American Express, Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Chevron. But the bulk of Berkshire's value comes from its other assets, which include insurance companies, BNSF railroad, Berkshire Hathaway Energy, and a slew of retail, service, and manufacturing companies.

Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that hold Berkshire Hathaway offer a way to tap into Buffett's investment empire while maintaining diversification. Berkshire Hathaway stock is a holding in many funds, including low-cost ETFs offered by investment management company Vanguard.

Here are five Vanguard ETFs with exposure to Berkshire that may be worth buying now. But first, here's a look at why Berkshire is in a unique position heading into the new year.

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Investing against the current

In August, Berkshire became the first non-technology company to hit a $1 trillion market cap. But Berkshire has had a choppy few months since then, sporting a market cap of $977 billion at the time of this writing.

It's been a uniquely contrarian year for Berkshire. Buffett has sent several warning signals to investors by trimming or selling out of positions and raising cash -- indicating that Buffett and his team may view the broader market as generally overvalued.

The warning signs have grown even louder in recent months, as Berkshire didn't repurchase its own stock in a quarter for the first time since the third quarter of 2018. Berkshire's net cash position is at a record high, and its net stock sales year to date through the September quarter are their highest ever.

On paper, Berkshire is arguably the most pessimistic it has ever been. But that doesn't mean that buying the company is a bad idea. For starters, its $325 billion in cash and Treasury bills basically means that nearly a third of Berkshire's value is in cash. The total value of Berkshire's public equity holdings is just shy of $300 billion, so the rest of the company's worth is in other assets, like the insurance companies, railroad, and other businesses mentioned earlier.

Berkshire is a stable business with many advantages in today's relatively expensive market. It has the dry powder needed to load up on stocks or make acquisitions when it feels the valuations make sense. Its businesses are stable cash cows that tend to grow gradually over time. They aren't the kind of companies that can deliver rip-roaring growth, but they also have what it takes to endure an economic slowdown.