Tens of thousands of investors, from hedge fund managers and tech executives to students and retirees, will soon descend on Omaha to hear from the patron saint of level-headed investing.

Warren Buffett, 94, is riding high after cashing in $158 billion of stocks over the last two years, before President Donald Trump’s tariffs tanked the market.

Berkshire Hathaway’s billionaire CEO rarely speaks publicly, but on Saturday, he will answer questions onstage for nearly five hours — the high point of his conglomerate’s annual shareholder meeting.

“Woodstock for capitalists” sees attendees immerse themselves in all things Buffett for one weekend a year. Many of Berkshire’s businesses offer cut-price goods at a two-day shopping event. There’s also a picnic and 5K run.

Omaha’s hotels, bars, stores, and restaurants fill with subscribers to Buffett’s philosophy of seeking bargains, owning for the long run, and remaining calm when others panic. They forge relationships with fellow tribe members, trade stock tips and investing stories, and debate Berkshire’s latest moves.

It might sound like an investing conference, but devoted attendees told Business Insider it was a “pilgrimage,” a “celebration,” and a “blessing.”

“The gathering offers a unique blend of wisdom, camaraderie, and tradition,” Lawrence Cunningham, the author of several books about Berkshire and the director of the University of Delaware’s Weinberg Center on Corporate Governance, told BI.

Cunningham said the meeting is far more than an investor retreat; it’s a “pilgrimage where shareholders connect, learn, and celebrate shared values of integrity, learning, and community.”

David Kass, a finance professor at the University of Maryland who’s been attending the meeting for 20 years, told BI he’s going for the “excitement of being in the same room” as Buffett and 40,000 other investors.

“I will also be renewing friendships with several value investors and meeting other investors for the first time,” he said.

Paul Lountzis, the president of Lountzis Asset Management, told BI he began attending the meeting after joining the storied Ruane, Cunniff & Goldfarb in 1991, and has now gone more than 30 times. He’s returning with his two sons this year to see Buffett impart his knowledge and to reunite with friends, join meetings, and enjoy the city.

“We are just so happy to see him given how much he has impacted our lives,” Lountzis said, adding that the chance to see Buffett was “first and foremost a blessing.”

Holding court

Buffett’s Q&A is the weekend’s main event. The living legend dispenses wit and wisdom to a packed stadium about investing, business, government, economics, psychology, history, and life.

The Berkshire boss and his lieutenants will field a mix of questions curated by CNBC’s Becky Quick and posed by audience members.

Steven Check, the CEO of Check Capital Management, who’s been showing up for three decades, told BI it’s a “wonderful chance to get your bearings realigned,” calling Buffett “the leader of rational thought.”

Check hailed the investing legend as “America’s business leader” but noted he rarely gives interviews anymore, so the meeting “has become about the only time during the year to hear directly from Buffett.”

“Upon leaving, you always have a good feeling that things will be just fine, no matter what is going on,” he added.

Cunningham said Buffett’s “ability to expound on a wide range of subjects with clarity and humor” is a core part of his appeal to many acolytes.

This year’s meeting will be only the second since Buffett’s right-hand man, Charlie Munger, died at 99 in November 2023. Buffett’s folksy humor and colorful anecdotes combined with Munger’s blunt manner and scathing judgments to create a remarkable double act for corporate America.

Buffett will be accompanied this year by his planned successor, Greg Abel, who heads Berkshire’s non-insurance businesses. Berkshire’s insurance chief, Ajit Jain, will also join the first session of the day.

When asked why he was going, Brett Gardner, an analyst and author of “Buffett’s Early Investments,” said he simply wanted “to hear from Warren Buffett!”

“I am in awe of his investment record and how he created a trillion-dollar company built on integrity, trust, and his (and Charlie Munger’s) genius. It’s an incredible creation, and I view the meeting as a celebration of what he’s accomplished,” he added.

Brian Gongol, a Buffett superfan and shareholder since 2007, told BI that he thinks of the investor as an “intellectual grandfather” whose teachings have made him money and helped him to build a college fund for his kids and nest eggs for loved ones.

“The least I can do to say ‘thanks’ is to show up when I know how much shareholder attendance at the meeting means to him,” Gongol said.

Bargain hunters unite

Gongol is a particular devotee of another big draw: a two-day shopping event in the venue’s exhibition hall where about two dozen of the conglomerate’s subsidiaries, including See’s Candies, Pampered Chef, and Squishmallows-owner Jazwares, showcase their wares at discounted prices for shareholders.

Gongol said he’s attended so many meetings that Berkshire merch makes up a “meaningful share” of his wardrobe, rivaling his Chicago Cubs gear and college sweatshirts.

Preparing for departure

In his February letter to shareholders, Buffett mentioned using a cane, emphasized that his time as CEO is nearing an end, and championed Abel as a worthy replacement. Those comments have stoked fresh intrigue that he might announce his retirement at this year’s meeting.

Alex Morris, the author of “Buffett and Munger Unscripted” and the founder of investment research service TSOH, told BI the meeting was a chance to “see Warren share his wisdom with the investment community, potentially for the last time,” and to reconnect with other investors who “worship at the altar of value investing.”

“It is a unique weekend with no parallel in corporate America,” he added.

Buffett’s advanced age and whispers he could step down have stoked intense interest in one of the last, precious chances to watch, listen, and learn from him in person.

The nonagenarian is all too aware of his mortality. “I not only hope that you come next year, but I hope I come next year,” he quipped at the end of last year’s gathering.

“I hope it is not Mr. Buffett’s last meeting — don’t want to think about that,” Lountzis said.