Two Holdings You Can Happily Maintain When Market Volatility Strikes

When the stock market experiences significant downturns, most investors face a difficult decision: hold or sell? My portfolio of roughly 45 holdings represents a philosophical commitment to long-term investing that goes beyond emotional market reactions. The truth is, I rarely divest during downturns unless something fundamentally breaks within a business itself. With that approach in mind, some holdings stand out as particularly resilient anchors during turbulent periods—positions I can happily carry through volatility without losing sleep.

Berkshire Hathaway and Prologis represent exactly this type of holding. While I wouldn’t sell any of my positions simply because prices declined, I recognize that certain businesses would likely weather economic storms far better than broader market averages, allowing me to maintain conviction even as valuations fluctuate significantly.

Berkshire Hathaway: The Unwavering Foundation

If forced to concentrate my entire portfolio into a single position during a market crash, Berkshire Hathaway would be my choice. The conglomerate operates more than 60 subsidiaries—the vast majority classified as “evergreen” businesses that perform reliably across all economic conditions. Consider how people must continue paying car insurance premiums to GEICO or electricity bills to Berkshire Hathaway Energy, regardless of broader economic circumstances.

Beyond this recession-resistant business model, Berkshire possesses an unmatched capital fortress. As of the most recent financial reporting, the company maintained approximately $382 billion in cash reserves, a figure likely to expand further. This extraordinary liquidity provides tremendous flexibility to capitalize on distressed opportunities when markets seize up. History validates this approach—during the 2008-2009 financial crisis, Berkshire strategically deployed capital into Bank of America and Goldman Sachs at depressed valuations, emerging from that downturn in a considerably stronger competitive position than before. There’s every reason to expect similar opportunistic behavior if markets decline again.

Industrial Real Estate: Essential Through Economic Cycles

Prologis operates as the world’s largest industrial real estate investment trust, controlling over 1 billion square feet of logistics infrastructure including distribution centers and warehouse facilities. The critical insight here is straightforward: e-commerce logistics networks represent essential long-term infrastructure, not cyclical discretionary spending.

Even during severe market stress, companies like Amazon and FedEx must maintain global supply chains and continue moving goods through distribution networks. While new facility construction might slow during economic weakness, the fundamental demand for existing logistics space remains inelastic. Long-term trends continue pointing toward expanded e-commerce volumes that will require these assets regardless of temporary market turmoil. For a REIT owner, this translates to stable cash flows that happily persist even as equity markets fluctuate wildly.

Understanding Real Volatility Expectations

To be transparent, characterizing these businesses as resilient doesn’t mean their stock prices won’t decline. Both securities could certainly experience meaningful pullbacks alongside broader market weakness, and neither offers immunity from volatility. However, the distinction matters significantly: when considering the underlying business fundamentals, I would expect both to outperform the overall market during downturns.

For investors with conviction in these positions, such price declines present exactly the opportunity most investors claim they seek but rarely execute on. A significant pullback in either position would represent a strategic buying opportunity, not a warning signal to exit.

Building Investment Conviction Through Analysis

The most important element in successfully holding investments during market crashes isn’t luck—it’s having done the analytical work beforehand to understand what you own and why. When you can articulate how a business generates value across economic cycles, and when you’ve positioned yourself in structurally sound companies, maintaining those positions becomes far easier to do happily and with confidence.

This approach transforms market volatility from a source of anxiety into a backdrop for practicing the discipline that separates successful long-term investors from those who let emotions dictate their decisions.