The Richest Man in the Room Is Usually the Calmest
Applying Warren Buffet's lesson: Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful
Dear Investors.
Zee here. During a public Live Free webinar on 18th March 2026, I shared the market is heavily discounted, despite the negative headlines of Oil shortages, Rising Oil prices, Blocked straits of hormuz and US-Iran War.
Common responses I received were: Too Risky Now
Back then when the Stocks were at high: I’ll wait for the crash.
Last Thursday, I wrote about fundamentally strong the companies in S&P500 were, given their rising Nett Profit Margins. Proud that several of our students saw the Great Sale and took action.
Since the public Live Free webinar on 18th March 2026, the market rallied about 6%.
I will share my thoughts of the markets moving forward on next Free live Webinar on Monday 20th April 2026 (Details below).
Announcement:
If you missed our previous webinar for “The Hidden Giant in Grab’s Business That Most Investors Overlook (Not Ride-Hailing)”
We’ll be covering it again on our Free live Webinar on Monday, 20th April 2026.
Join us, especially if you’ve aways wanted to build a resilient portfolio with ETFs and stocks, and become an independent investor yourself…
👉🏼 Click here to reserve a spot. (LINK)
Few investing quotes have stood the test of time like this one from Warren Buffett: “Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.”
It sounds simple. It’s anything but.
What does it actually mean?
Buffett’s point is that markets are driven by human emotion just as much as by logic.
When everyone around you is excited and piling into stocks, prices tend to be inflated that’s the time to be cautious. But when panic sets in and investors are selling everything in sight, prices often drop below what businesses are truly worth and that’s when real opportunities emerge.
In short: don’t follow the crowd. The crowd is usually wrong at the extremes.
How do you know if the market is fearful or greedy now?
Enter the CNN Fear & Greed Index
CNN’s Fear & Greed Index is a tool designed to measure what emotion is currently driving the stock market. It’s one of the most practical ways to put Buffett’s philosophy into action.
The index is built from seven different market indicators: market momentum, stock price strength, stock price breadth, put and call options, junk bond demand, market volatility, and safe haven demand.
Each one captures a different slice of how investors are behaving right now.
The theory behind the index is straightforward: excessive fear tends to push share prices down, while too much greed tends to push them up beyond fair value.
Neither extreme lasts forever.
The index gives each indicator equal weighting and produces a score from 0 to 100 — with 100 representing maximum greed and 0 signaling maximum fear.
Here’s a quick plain-English breakdown of what each indicator measures:
Market Momentum — When the S&P 500 is trading above its 125-day average, it signals positive momentum and greed; below it suggests investors are getting nervous.
Stock Price Strength — This tracks how many stocks are hitting 52-week highs versus lows on the NYSE. Many more highs than lows is a bullish, greedy sign.
Market Volatility — The VIX measures expected price swings in the S&P 500 over the next 30 days. It tends to be lower in bull markets and spikes when fear takes over.
Safe Haven Demand — When investors are scared, they flee to bonds. This indicator measures the gap between bond and stock returns over the past 20 trading days.
Junk Bond Demand — When investors are willing to take on riskier bonds, the yield spread between junk bonds and safer government bonds narrows, a sign of greed.
Application: The hardest part
Here’s the catch, and why Buffett’s quote is so much easier to admire than to act on. Buying when others are panicking feels terrible. It goes against every instinct.
When markets are falling and headlines are grim, the natural urge is to do what everyone else is doing: sell and run.
That’s exactly what Buffett says you shouldn’t do.
The Fear & Greed Index won’t tell you what to buy or when to buy it. Used alongside fundamental analysis and other tools, it can serve as a helpful gut-check on market sentiment- a way to ask yourself: am I making this decision based on real value, or am I just following the herd?
Link to CNN Fear and Greed Index
Disclaimer: All information here is for educational purposes only. This is not financial advice. Please do your own research and speak with a licensed advisor before making any investment decisions. Past performance is not indicative of future returns, and that’s exactly the point.