Many investors are understandably nervous about the volatility of the stock market. Some people, however, take it calmly and may even benefit from it. One who has managed to do this over the decades is Warren Buffett.

I think Buffett’s approach is insightful and potentially helpful to other investors, even those with much more modest budgets.

Sometimes markets behave in strange ways

The most crucial thing to understand is that, according to Warren Buffett, the stock market can be largely ignored.

What I’m saying is that daily stock price movements don’t interest long-term investors like Buffett as much as speculators do. Indeed, the Sage of Omaha said the stock market could be closed for a decade and it wouldn’t bother him.

This is because his approach to investing is based on the idea of ​​identifying companies with excellent financial characteristics, buying them when the share price is attractive, and then holding the investment for the long, long time. Indeed, Buffett described his favorite stock ownership period as “forever‘.

One reason this approach has been so lucrative for Buffett is that sometimes markets can behave in ways that seem irrational. Broader panic could mean prices of excellent quality stocks plummet, even though their long-term prospects may remain largely unchanged.

Such sudden opportunities to buy good quality at a low price mean that Warren Buffett has turned many nervous stock markets to his financial advantage over the decades.

Buffett focuses on quality, not just price

Example: Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS).

Few financial institutions have such clout, customer base and transaction expertise. But during the 2008 financial crisis, Goldman wanted to raise a enormous sum of cash and called a man he knew could facilitate: Warren Buffett.

This was a great opportunity for Buffett. For investing $5 billion in Goldman, he received preferred stock that paid a 10% return until the bank paid him to buy it back. He also obtained warrants allowing him to buy tens of millions of Goldman shares over the next five years at what later turned out to be a bargain price. Buffett made over $3 billion on a $5 billion investment.

Small private investors don’t get a call from a legendary investment bank offering them this type of deal.

I am now preparing for future market volatility

However, I think we can all take some lessons from this when it comes to taking advantage of the opportunities presented by a stock market crash or correction to try to build wealth at any level.

One of them is not to fish at the bottom at the expense of quality. Buffett’s investment in Goldman reflects his well-known preference for companies with proven business models, forceful business franchises, long-term viability and customer demand.

Some stocks may fall in the face of market volatility and then look affordable – but their price never recovers. This did not happen with Goldman. If I look for opportunities during the next period of high market volatility, I will do so in line with Buffett’s approach to business quality, not just price.