Warren Buffett is widely regarded as the most successful investor of our times. On Monday Becky Quick of CNBC asked him today to reveal the dumbest investment he ever made. Turns out, Buffett says that his own company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), was the dumbest stock he has ever bought.

Why? Buffett explained on CNBC that early in 1962, he came across the textile company, which was constantly closing mills and reinvesting the proceeds in its stock. So Buffett figured he would also buy the stock, tender it to Berkshire's management and make a small profit.

At times, it can be really hard to remember just how good we have it as Americans. In all the doom and gloom talk of the economy, such as Goldman Sachs saying it will be "fairly bad" at best over the coming six to nine months, I think this is we need to be reminded of this sometimes.

We are one of the richest and freest countries in the world. We have freedom of speech, press and religion. Economically, we are very well off. While with the weak U.S. dollar we may not be the richest country in the world anymore, we are far from poor.

To put things in perspective, here is a select list of some of the countries in the world and their 2009 gross domestic product based on purchasing-power-parity per capita, according to IMF data:

Being a millionaire should be a good thing, right? In fact, it could even be more advantageous during tough times because of the attractive deals.

But even millionaires get anxiety attacks. Just take a look at a recent survey from the Spectrum Group. According to its millionaire investor confidence index, the level is the lowest in more than a year. The reading is at a -18, which is the result of a 11 point drop over the past month. Anything below -10 is considered bearish.

Well, millionaires of the world, your club has become a bit less elite. The number of millionaires across the globe rose by an astounding 17% in 2009, according to the 14th annual "World Wealth Report" published by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini SA. That's a lot of wealth in a time of global economic crisis.

But first, what defines a millionaire? No, having a baseball-card collection that might fetch that kind of a price tag doesn't count (unfortunately). The way the Merrill study defines it is those households with at least $1 million in investable assets, not including primary residences. There are now 10 million of these households in the world, up from 8.6 million in 2008.

The summer season is almost upon us. If you have ever lived in or near New York City, you know that traffic to New Jersey or the Hamptons is all but impossible. Some commute 8 to 10 hours a day to and from work.

Those who have the big bucks fly. For $200, Liberty Helicopters can fly you from 30th street Pier 6 to Port Mammouth, New Jersey. Similar flights go to Long Island.

After reading an unbelievable sell recommendation by one of my BloggingStocks colleagues, I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. In Thirteen Dow stocks that are doomed, we are informed that 13 of the 30 are going down and we should all bail out before it is too late.

I find this silly on many levels. For one, 13 stocks amount to a large-cap index fund and since large-cap stocks have lagged the market the probability that they will outperform going forward is real and has many investors promoting them.

Wednesday, Bernard Madoff requested leniency through his attorney Ira Sorkin, who suggested a sentence of 12 years would be a sufficient penalty for his client's crime of stealing billions of dollars in one of the greatest frauds in history.

Sentencing by U.S. District Judge Denny Chin is set for Monday June 29, and the eyes of the world will be upon him. So will the eyes of the yet-to-be discovered fraudsters everywhere.

My thoughts on the subject are relatively simple and have little to do with revenge or payback. In cases like this I often remember a very old quote from another time and place.

There are very few people on this planet that can honestly say that they have not been affected in some way by the economic firestorm caused by underappreciating risk.

Congress, along with the Securities and Exchange Commission during a period where the White House was comatose, opened up the flood gates for Wall Street's financial wizards to bet the world and lose!

I have to admit that I'm a little naïve. While I've long since realized that rich men and pretty girls go together like frat parties and crab lice, I always assumed that the connection was tenuous and unformed. Basically, I imagined that it was a matter of overlapping social circles: bars, nightclubs and restaurants use financial sector employees to boost their bottom line by buying overpriced drinks and over-engineered food. In order to get these socially inept adrenaline junkies in the door, hot spots try to attract models by offering free crudite, well-appointed vomitoria, and... you guessed it, large numbers of financial sector employees. Thus, the models find their money men, the money men get their gold diggers, and the restaurants get a lot of money.

Now, I'm not a total rube. I never thought for a second that this connection was the result of random chance or pure romance. After all, there is nothing like a model to enhance the reputation and self-image of a hedge fund manager. Conversely, after Baywatch went off the air, financial-sector employees became the ultimate means for aging models to parley their looks into long-term financial security. Both groups have something to offer the other; while this may not be the basis for true love, it certainly serves as a stable foundation for a business arrangement.

Madoff should have asked for protective custody
Instead he asked for bail
The judge sent him home in bracelets
When he should have sent him to jail

Madoff admits stealing $50 billion with no remorse over 30 years
Investors and foundations lost millions and are raining tears

A thousand questions cannot be answered
How could this scandal go on so long?
Undetected by the regulators and investors around the world
Who didn't think always winning meant something was wrong

They turned a blind eye while they were charmed by a smile
From a friendly man with a key to the city and connections that could beguile

The Securities and Exchange commission did not do its job
Incompetence in the highest office for three decades
Giving the swindler Bernie Madoff a license to rob
And pretend he was a genius trader when few were ever made

I have to hand it to Brady Dougan, CEO of Credit Suisse. He has shown some fiendishly clever imagination in paying bonuses to his managing directors. Instead of giving them multimillion dollar cash bonuses this year, he's paying them in the very thing that has brought Wall Street to its knees -- $5 billion of its leveraged loans and commercial mortgage-backed debt.

This move alone demonstrates that Credit Suisse is using its brain. By doing this, Dougan keeps the future losses of $5 billion worth of its toxic waste from cutting into Credit Suisse's earnings. Since the alternative was giving them no bonus at all, those managing directors will have a chance to share the emotions of all the people to whom they sold that toxic waste.

Not only that, but it will be much harder to get the general public angry at Credit Suisse for paying bonuses in toxic waste than other firms that are actually paying cash to their employees. Credit Suisse took $2.8 billion in losses in October and November, but it has not received any government money, unlike its peers. But the cleverest part of all is the accounting for the $5 billion in bonuses.

This post is part of our feature on Money Winners of 2008. See all 20.

So what do you do for fun when you're worth $600 million? Gambling is one option. Though the thought of sitting in front of a slot machine in Vegas and feeding it quarter after quarter might be less than appealing for some, I suppose it would be different if each pull on the bandit's arm cost $1,000. And even if you don't need another penny in your bank account, it still might be kind of fun when the bells ring and the lights flash as you hit the jackpot.

This is what happened to multi-millionaire Candy Spelling this past year. She was reportedly playing high limit slots at the Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas when she hit the jackpot. Her payout? A cool $180,000. (Though as TMZ points out, that's the equivalent of about $8 to us ordinary proles.)

Candy is of course the wife of legendary television producer Aaron Spelling, creator of such eternal classics as The Boy in the Plastic Bubble, Charlie's Angels, and Beverly Hills 90210, among many others. Together, the Spellings created another classic: their daughter Tori, actress and tabloid all-star. Aaron Spelling died in 2006, leaving an estate worth over half a billion dollars, famously controlled by his wife but not Tori.

This week a little story about a $50 billion investment fraud has metastasized. Madoff Securities, a brokerage firm that ran a secretive investment fund on the side, has closed down -- revealing that its steady 10% annual returns was a result of a Ponzi scheme. For some who trusted Madoff a week ago, they are today coming to grips with life without money. Is Madoff the only one out there? I doubt it. So you need to protect yourself.

How did Madoff accomplish this? That story has yet to be revealed. But founder Bernie Madoff revealed that he was using money from his most recent investors to pay off the earlier ones who requested their money. And a letter from hedge fund research and advisory firm, Aksia -- which steered its clients away from Madoff -- reveals five useful clues:

• Unknown accounting firm. Madoff used an accounting firm Friehling & Horowitz that employed three people -- one was a 78 year old living in Florida.
• Incomprehensible investment strategy too good to be true. Madoff employed a "split conversion strategy" which was never clearly defined and whose returns other traders could not duplicate.
• Deception about technology. Madoff claimed it was technologically sophisticated but a visitor to its offices found paper tickets sent through the mail.

The average American family has seen its income fall over the last eight years while its expenses have risen. Not so for the top 1%. They've been building 40,000 square foot mansions and flying in private jets to visit their vacation homes in Aspen and the Hamptons and so on. But since the fall of 2007, things have headed downhill for the rich along with the Dow -- which has lost 36% of its value since its peak in October 2007.

They're changing their lifestyles. How so? Vanity Fair provides examples of how the super-rich are downsizing in wine, shoes, fitness training, air travel, grocery shopping, and maid service. To illustrate these changes, the list below contrasts their behavior in these different categories between the fall of 2007 and the fall of 2008:

WINE

• 2007: $1,950 bottle of 2003 Screaming Eagle Cabernet Sauvignon
• 2008: $15 bottles of wine

SHOES

• 2007: $600 or $700 pair of shoes as "retail therapy
• 2008: No retail therapy because "It just doesn't feel good."

FITNESS TRAINING

• 2007: Fitness trainer three times a week
• 2008: Fitness trainer once a week

This post is part of a series where personal finance expert Dan Solin looks at money secrets that help the rich stay rich. See them all.

To be a successful investor, you need to know the odds.

Investing is far more important than gambling. Yet most gamblers understand the odds before they place a bet. Few investors understand the odds of achieving a return on their investments.

The odds of shooting snake eyes at a craps table are one in thirty-six.

The odds of winning on one number at a roulette table are one in thirty-eight.

Most investors buy actively managed funds, where the fund manager attempts to beat a given benchmark. What are the odds she will be able to do so?

They are one in thirty-six. Sound familiar?

Almost every broker and many advisors will tell you they can pick stocks that will be winners. What are the odds they can deliver?