OMAHA, United States: Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose stock picks over several decades have turned Berkshire Hathaway Inc. into one of the most successful conglomerates, wants investors to be wary of the high fees Wall Street routinely charges because of the damage they do to investment returns.
“When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients,” Buffett, widely considered one of the world’s best investors, said in his annual letter to shareholders.
He says he estimates that wealthy investors who use high-priced advisers have wasted over $100 billion over the past decade.
Buffett devoted a section of his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders Saturday to explaining again the benefits low-cost index funds have over most other investments.
“Both large and small investors should stick with low-cost index funds.”
Buffett has often said he believes most stock investors are better off with low-cost index funds than paying higher fees to managers who often underperform.
Buffett again praised the country’s market system for its ability to allow Americans to continue building “mind-boggling amounts” of wealth.
Buffett devoted most of his letter to detailing the evolution of Berkshire and the performance of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company last year. His annual letters are always well read.
During the financial crisis, Buffett bet a founder of the asset management company Protege Partners LLC $1 million that a Vanguard S&P 500 stock index fund would outperform several groups of hedge funds of over the 10 years through 2017. The index fund is up 85.4 percent, Buffett said, while the hedge fund groups are up between 2.9 percent and 62.8 percent.
On Saturday, Buffett said the figures leave “no doubt” that he will win the bet. He plans to donate the money to Girls Inc. of Omaha, a charity.
Warren Buffett says don’t waste money on investment fees
Warren Buffett says don’t waste money on investment fees
Egypt-born Dina Powell McCormick appointed Meta president and vice chairman
- The former Goldman Sachs partner and White House official previously served on Meta’s board of directors
- Powell McCormick, who was born in Cairo and moved to the US as a child, joins the management team and will help guide overall strategy and execution
LONDON: Meta has appointed Egypt-born Dina Powell McCormick as its new president and vice chairman.
The company said on Monday that the former Goldman Sachs partner and White House official, who previously served on Meta’s board of directors, is stepping up into a senior leadership role as the company accelerates its push into artificial intelligence and global infrastructure.
Powell McCormick, who was born in Cairo and moved to the US as a young girl, will join the management team and help guide its overall strategy and execution. She will work closely with Meta’s Compute and infrastructure teams, the company said, overseeing multi-billion-dollar investments in data centers, energy systems and global connectivity, while building new strategic capital partnerships.
“Dina’s experience at the highest levels of global finance, combined with her deep relationships around the world, makes her uniquely suited to help Meta manage this next phase of growth as the company’s president and vice chairman,” Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said.
Powell McCormick has more than 25 years of experience in finance, national security and economic development. She spent 16 years as a partner at Goldman Sachs in senior leadership roles, and served two US presidents, including stints as deputy national security adviser to Donald Trump, and a senior State Department official under George W. Bush.
Most recently, she was vice chair and president of global client services at merchant bank BDT & MSD Partners.
