Saving and investing don't have to be difficult or painful. In fact, with a few simple changes, you might be able to drastically improve your financial habits and provide a better life for you and those about whom you care.

You always hear about the Fed Funds Rate or the Federal Funds Rate. Just what is it? Glad you asked! Take a second out of your day to get this important, and rarely known, answer ...

When I was a child, I grew up in a small farm town and used to walk to the local public library just off the town square during the weekends to pour through the Value Line Investment Survey. When I found a stock that interested me, I’d pay to have copied on a black and white machine for $0.01 to $0.03 per sheet, take it home, study it, and then open a small safe that I had purchased from an acquaintance of the family. Inside, there were dollar bills (that I had ironed), coins from around the world, and stock tables.

Today, my life is remarkably the same. The difference is, the copy of Value Line is my own, sitting on a mahogany desk, the walls are covered in framed stock certificates and fine art, I’m writing with a fine fountain pen, and the coffee is served to me in a gold-rimmed cup. Yet, the nature of what I do is identical – in fact, I have such a passion for studying companies, that it brings me the same joy now as it did back when I had no net worth of which to speak and was trying to figure out how to make my way in the world. That is the very essence of what is great about the American dream. My family wasn’t wealthy or powerful, and yet because the knowledge was available, upward mobility existed and allowed me to pour my time, efforts, and talents into something that brought me joy (and profits). This was underscored earlier in the week when I was reviewing the Fortune 500 rankings. Charlie Munger has pointed out in the past that it only takes two or three great investments in a lifetime to get very rich (and you only have to get rich once). That means thinking through the problem of what could go wrong and working to make as certain as possible that you are getting full value for your money.

Let me illustrate the point by taking you through some of the stats. My hope is that seeing real-world examples can help you in constructing your own portfolio ... Continue Reading ...

This year, roughly 31,000 shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway descended upon Omaha, Nebraska to hear Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger hold forth for hours fielding questions on everything from how to choose managers at a small business to the role of international investments in one’s portfolio or operations. Here are eight lessons learned from our time at the meeting.

I'm just getting back from the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska and there will be a ton of updated content to follow ... check back in the next day or two as I get it all published!!!

Warren Buffett often shares a strategy that he has said he believes can help improve your investments results. Find out what it is...

The recent surge in commodity prices such as corn, wheat, soy, and rice shouldn't be much of a surprise to anyone who reads annual reports on a regular basis. This past Christmas, my family and I had several discussions that the average American probably didn't realize the price increases that would be hitting the grocery store in the coming six to twelve months where they were clearly, and quite plainly, spelled out in the financial reports of businesses such as Kellogg's, General Mills, Kraft Foods, Sara Lee, Starbucks, and countless others. The price of wheat alone has tripled over the past three years, causing tremendous challenges for the folks running bread-based restaurants and stores such as Panera. Moves like that typically crush gross profit margins, which are important to the bottom line and, ultimately, the return on equity.

For now, what can you do to protect your pocketbook? In the short-term, very little. As one commentator accurately pointed out to viewers, the world has gotten remarkably good at growing food. These price levels will be far too appealing to farmers who will quickly adjust their output and crop choices to maximize their own profits which will, in turn, move us further up the supply curve, lowering prices. That may take two or three years. In the meantime, if there are businesses that you really want to own with long histories of share repurchases, cash dividends, able and honest management, and a product you understand, now may be a good time to begin buying shares. Ten years from now, it's highly unlikely anyone will remember the short-term price situation of food and you'll have built an ownership stake in the firms.

I'm reading a marvelous 80+ year old book called Where are the Customers' Yachts? that has gone through several reprints and long served as a warning against the "kindergarten" that is Wall Street. Written in an almost satire-like tone, there is a great section in the third half of the book that asks each would-be investor to pose six questions to themselves and answer them correctly. If he's unable to answer "yes", or has to hesitate, then he should count the answer wrong.

Here's what the author has to say ...

1. Do you perceive quite clearly what is the objection to playing a roulette wheel that has two zeros on it? (If not, don't bother to be a financier; be a roulette player.)

2. If a man has tossed a coin "heads" four times in succession, which do you think he is more likely to toss the fifth time, heads or tails? (If you think he is more likely to toss either heads or tails, look into the interior-decorating game. You have that instinctive type of mentality which might do very well at that.)

3. When do you consider that it is a good purchase to draw one card to an insight straight? (Answer - when you are playing for soybeans.)

4. If you have answered #3 correctly, do you find that when you are actually playing poker for money, you can always resist making that draw? (If not, stay home with your money and start practicing being a miser.)

5. If a stock which is not paying any dividend is split two for one, how much good does that do the stockholder? (If you think it does him any real good, come down and join our sales department but steer clear of our trading department.)

6. What is the primary purpose of a business enterprise? This questions is specifically for young men considering entering the banking field, where they will have a constant parade of business propositions passing before them, and they will be required to plump for a few of them and say "no" to the others. The answer is elementary and obvious: the primary purpose of a business is to make money. Almost anyone knows this with the top part of his brain. But there are only a few valuable young men who also know this all up and down their spinal column. Most businessmen imagine that they are in business to make money, and that this is their chief reason for being in business, but more often than not they are gently kidding themselves. There are so many other things which are actually more attractive. Some of them are: to make a fine product or to render a remarkable service, to give employment to revolutionize an industry, to make oneself famous, or at least to supply oneself with material for conversation in the evening. I have observed businessmen whose chief pre-occupation was to try to prove conclusively to their competitors that they themselves were smart and that their competitors were damn fools - an effort which gives a certain amount of mental satisfaction but no money at all. I have even seen some whose chief interest lay in proving this point to their partners. So give yourself a real good mark if you know that a business should make money, but only if you really know it.

Had investors heeded this simple advice, the credit crisis wouldn't have happened, the dot-com bust wouldn't have occurred, the Nifty Fifty wouldn't have done so much damage to a generation of investors; you get the idea.

Risk reduction. Insurance companies do it every time they underwrite a new policy by estimated probable outcomes based on past behavior and other factors. So do restaurants and coffee shops when they hedge their costs on items such as coffee beans, wheat, and dairy products. Holding companies strive for it when they acquire businesses in fields that have nothing to do with the core enterprise. How about you and your family? The same techniques that are often used by some of the best corporations in America and the world can do a lot of good for you whether you're a white-shoed banker on Park Avenue or a construction worker in the Rust Belt. It's unlikely you were ever taught to think this way in high school or even college, but it's time to start looking at your own life, assets, and earnings stream as a business in order to protect yourself from the dangers lurking in every day life. Continue reading about risk reduction ...

When three Boston money managers pooled their money in 1924, the first mutual fund was born. In the subsequent eight decades, that simple concept has grown into one of the biggest industries in the world, now controlling trillions of dollars in assets and allowing small investors a means to compound their wealth through systematic investments via a dollar cost averaging plan. In fact, the mutual fund industry has spawned its own stars with cult-like followings: Peter Lynch, Bill Gross, Marty Whitman, and the folks at Tweedy, Browne & Company just to name a few.

With so much at stake, what should an investor look for in a mutual fund? This handy ten-step guide can make the process a lot easier and give you some peace of mind as you sift through the thousands of available options.