OMAHA: Billionaire Wa­r­r­en Buffett used his much anticipated annual letter to Berkshire Hatha­way shareholders to reiterate his wariness of high Wall Street fees and his positive outlook for the US economy.

Buffett devoted a section of the letter released Sat­urday to again explain the benefits low-cost index fu­nds have over most other investments. But he kept the letter focused on business and didn’t weigh in on politics.

He said he estimates that wealthy investors who use high-priced advisers have wasted over $100 billion over the past decade.

“The bottom line: 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 wrote. “Both large and small investors should stick with low-cost index funds.”

To prove his point, Buffett recounted the first nine years of a 10-year bet he made that an S&P 500 index fund will outperform a collection of hedge funds. He made the wager with the money managers who own Protege Partners LLC a few months before the recession began in 2008 with both sides picking a charity that would get at least $1 million.

Buffett’s chosen index fund has recorded an 85.4 per cent gain over than time while the hedge funds delivered an average of 22pc.

Buffett again praised the country’s market system for its ability to allow Amer­icans to continue building “mind-boggling amounts” of wealth, but he didn’t compare his views to dire picture political candidates offer, as he did a year ago.

Buffett is a longtime Democrat who supported Hillary Clinton, but he has said he thinks the economy will be OK under President Donald Trump.

Published in Dawn, February 26th, 2017