It is easy to talk a good game. Indeed this may be the only thing that economists and market analysts actually excel at on a regular basis.
However when it comes to walking the walk none can compete with Warren Buffett.
Dubbed as the Sage of Omaha, the two big differences between Mr Buffett and the thousands of commentators that predict our financial futures is that he puts his hard earned cash on the line and that he is generally right.
In buying the Burlington Northern Santa Fe railroad company, Mr Buffett has just made his biggest investment ever.
All said and done, the business came with a $44bn price tag.
Mr Buffett is betting on an out and out recovery in the US economy, which will in turn boost the fortunes of the railroad.
He is not interested in any short-term turbulence over the coming months, but has instead focused on the medium to long-term and the improving health of corporate America.
Why then is everyone else pulling their money out of stocks? Figures show that investment in US bond funds outstripped that in US equity funds by a ratio of 23 to 1 during September.
Is this because these people are listening to slack-jawed, myopic, panic peddlers or because there are genuinely no under valued equity funds offering excellent growth opportunities over the coming months?
If it is because they truly believe there are no equity investment opportunities worth taking up then I would question the research methods used to come to this conclusion.
Are they also saying Mr Buffet is wrong to back an economic recovery?
Even at the nadir of the financial crisis, Mr Buffett took the time to weigh up his options and invested £5bn in Goldman Sachs.
He was questioned at the time but with the shares up by almost 50 per cent since his purchase, Mr Buffett has turned a fat and fulsome profit.
Why when Mr Buffett has an amazing 40-year track record are so many investors unwilling to follow his lead?
Surely he has proved that he does not represent a risky route to a favourable return, but one that is based on sound fundamentals and repeatedly bears fruit.
When will we accept that Mr Buffett is not a lucky gambler, but a skilful investor?
The time to sit tight and hang fire is when the market is overheating – just look at Mr Buffett’s strategy during the Dotcom bubble.
At the time people thought he was a fool not to invest – funnily enough they are the same people who question his equity investments today.
It will be interesting, if not wholly surprising, to see who comes out on top.
Courtesy of FT Adviser, 20 November 2009.
