Warren Buffett Speaks...

When Warren Buffett speaks, people listen. With Wall Street in panic mode along with the housing and credit markets, it’s always nice to get feedback from the Oracle of Omaha. The following are excerpts from the Fortune Magazine article titled: "What Warren Thinks…"

"Q: How do you get your ideas?

A: I just read. I read all day. I mean, we put $500 million in PetroChina. All I did was read the annual report. (Editor’s note: Berkshire purchased the shares five years ago and sold them in 2007 for $4 billion.

Q: What advice would you give someone who is not professional investor? Where should they put their money?

A: Well, if they’re not going to be an active investor—and very few should try to do that—then they should just stay with index funds. Any low-cost index fund. And they should buy it over time. They’re not going to be able to pick the right price and the right time. What they want to do is avoid the wrong price and wrong stock. You just make sure you own a piece of American business, and you don’t buy all at one time.

Q: By your rule, now seems like a good time to be greedy. People are pretty fearful.

A: You’re right. They are going in that direction. That’s why stocks are cheaper. Stocks are a better buy today than they were a year ago. Or three years ago."

Everything Buffett says here is so simple and all encompassing—now just implement the advice: Read as much as you can; dollar cost average in a low-cost index fund; keep buying, keep buying, keep buying…