Editor’s Note: I groan whenever a certain commercial comes on while I’m watching television. It’s an ad for a program that features a group of burly men that fix up old cabins.

I like the show, but in the ad the group leader compares their accomplishments to the engineers of ancient Rome. That’s when I hit the mute button.

A lot of people are good at what they do, but only a few are truly great at what they do. No offense to the skilled craftsmen of today, but fixing up a dilapidated hunting lodge isn’t on quite the same level as building aqueducts across mountain ranges thousands of years ago that still stand today.

The same holds true when it comes to investing. A lot of people claim to be great at it but only a handful have the track record to back up that claim. It’s one thing to say you are the best, but something else altogether to be able to prove it.

Father Know’s Best

At his investment company’s annual shareholder meeting last week, Warren Buffett announced that he will step down as CEO of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) at the end of this year. To say this development marks the end of an era is an understatement.

Buffett officially began his investment career in 1956 by starting an eponymous private equity company that eventually took on the name of one of its first acquisitions, textile manufacturer Berkshire Hathaway. By 1970 Buffett was the company’s chairman and largest shareholder.

From that point forward, Buffett applied the principles taught to him by Benjamin Graham, who is known on Wall Street as “the father of value investing.” Buffett has modified his valuation model over time, but to this day he still adheres to the same fundamental rules of investing that he learned from Graham.

Ahead of his Time

To say that Buffett’s longtime shareholders have benefited from his wisdom is also an understatement. Thirty years ago, one share of BRK-A could be purchased for around $30,000. At the end of last month, that same stock could be sold for $800,000.

Granted, Buffett was ahead of his time when he started out nearly seventy years ago. Over the decades, his investment approach has been dissected, reverse engineered, and imitated. Nevertheless, he still stands out from the pack.

Over the past five years, BRK-A has nearly tripled in price as shown in the chart above. Over the same span, the S&P 500 Index has not even doubled in value. Even more impressive is that Buffett holds few of the big tech stocks that account for much of the S&P 500’s upside movement.

Lost in the Woods

Some might argue that comparing Berkshire Hathaway’s performance to the S&P 500 Index is misleading. The index is completely passive, while Berkshire Hathaway is actively managed.

In that case, let’s compare Buffett’s performance to that of well-known tech fund manager Cathie Woods. Her flagship fund, the ARK Innovation ETF (CBOE: ARKK) hasn’t even managed to break even over the past five years. Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla (NSDQ: TSLA) is this fund’s largest holding at 12 percent of net assets.

Tesla exemplifies the difference between a value investor like Buffett and a growth investor such as Woods. Buffett won’t touch a company that is priced at more than 100 times forward earnings, while many of Woods’ holdings aren’t even profitable yet.

Forward Thinking

At the age of 70, Cathie Woods still has another 24 years to go until she reaches the same age that Buffett is now. Perhaps by then ARKK will have proven her aggressive approach to growth investing to be every bit as good as Buffett’s mastery of value investing.

However, I’m not willing to concede that point just yet. Think of it this way; 24 years ago, smartphones did not yet exist. Now, Apple (NSDQ: APPL) is one of the most valuable companies in the world (of which Berkshire Hathaway is a major shareholder).

I don’t know what the next 24 years hold for the stock market. What I do know is that the aqueducts built by the ancient Romans still stand, but it may not be long until that musty old cabin in the woods finally collapses.