I've always felt the real magic of Berkshire is the wonderful combination of Index-like returns and Fort Knox type safety!
Where else can you hope to match the returns of the S&P500 and sleep like a baby every night...

"I believe Berkshire can handle financial disasters of a magnitude beyond any heretofore experienced. This ability is one we will not relinquish. When economic upsets occur, as they will, Berkshire’s goal will be to function as an asset to the country – just as it was in a very minor way in 2008-9 and to help extinguish the financial fire rather than to be among the many companies that, inadvertently or otherwise, ignited the conflagration." ~Warren Buffett

Mr. Buffett has significantly reduced the sales of stomach antacids to Berkshire shareholders during the rough patches of 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008, 2018 & 2022 when the S&P fell an average of -17.1% while BRK share price increased an average of +7.2%.

"The pain of losing is psychologically about twice as powerful as the pleasure of gaining." ~Behavioral Economics

"Not only has Berkshire Hathaway approximated the performance of the S&P 500 in recent years, it has also performed as a counter-cyclical asset in each of the years that the S&P 500 registered negative total returns."
~Doug Kass

blog.umd.edu - Berkshire hathaway is a counter cyclical asset