OMAHA: Billionaire Warren Buffett says owning stocks is the key to building wealth over time, but investors must avoid the common mistakes of trading too often and paying high investment fees.

The billionaire investor says there’s every reason to expect stocks to perform well long-term, even if prices are volatile.

Buffett says his Berkshire Hathaway Inc. conglomerate benefited over the past 50 years from the S&P 500’s growth from 84 to 2,059.He says no commentator or investment adviser can predict the stock market.

He said “market forecasters will fill your ear but will never fill your wallet.”

Buffett isn’t immune from investing mistakes. He told Berkshire shareholders the company lost $444 million on its investment in British retailer Tesco largely because he was slow to sell the $2.3bn stake.

Published in Dawn March 1st , 2015

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