Even though we can anticipate billions of dollars in claims there still are buying opportunites.

"For good reason, there are hundreds of investment managers who are devout Warren Buffett-style value investors," observes Ian Wyatt.

The editor of The 100K Portfolio explains, "From 1965 to 2010, under Buffett's leadership, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A or BRK.B) has seen it's per share book value increase at an annual rate of 20.2 percent.

"Since Warren Buffett is now 80 years young, and his partner Charlie Munger is 87, the future leadership of Berkshire is certainly a concern.

Do you have any interest in insurance companies amidst the turmoil, disaster and current crises in Japan? A crises that followed so closely on the heals of the destruction of the New Zealand city of ChristChurch by a 6.3 magnitude earthquake. Perhaps you think this is even a poorer idea than catching that proverbial falling knife we are always hearing about when stock prices are collapsing.

Certainly there will be billions of dollars in claims. On the other hand, perhaps the burden will be spread around the globe to reinsurer's such that none is struck too hard and this is a buying opportunity. After all, when the dust settles, insurers will cry for mercy, and in particular, rate increases. It is also likely those that never saw the need for insurance have been awakened and demand will increase.

This is the fourth update to my ranting eight months ago that acquiring six of the most hated, and most highly traded stocks with constant negative headlines would outperform the overall market. The theory has born fruit as the toxic stocks are ahead and the difference is increasing over time.

When dealing with large companies, have you ever felt you were living through a scene from a Seinfeld episode?

In January Wells Fargo (WFC) completed a majority of its integration with Wachovia, and I fear it will take years working out the bugs in the system. I say this because I am a major client, shareholder and trader dealing with the company on numerous levels, and the past few weeks would be comedic if not so infuriating.

Warren Buffett, world's best stock investor, writes an annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), the holding company in which he does all of his investing. Fortunately for the world, he publishes it for everyone to read. While it is full of good investment advice, it also shows the Oracle of Omaha has a great sense of humor and a lot of wisdom. Here are some excerpts from his latest 2010 annual letter.

On uncertain times: "Money will always flow toward opportunity, and there is an abundance of that in America. Commentators today often talk of 'great uncertainty.' But think back, for example, to December 6,1941, October 18, 1987 and September 10, 2001. No matter how serene today may be, tomorrow is always uncertain."

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A) is sitting on $38 billion in cash. Buffett sent a 26-page letter to investors on Saturday, describing his forthcoming goals for this year. Some highlights of the letter are reported in Reuters.

First off, like many other large corporations Berkshire Hathaway has been hoarding cash. Now, Buffett feels that it's time to invest his bundle. He is actively searching for big deals. Reuters quotes him as saying: "Our elephant gun has been reloaded, and my trigger finger is itchy."

The past week's data-point-of-consequence for investors had to be investment decisions by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A).

Buffett ended positions in several stocks in the fourth quarter, including the Bank of America (BAC), Nike (NKE), Fiserv (FISV), Becton Dickinson (BDX), Comcast Corp. (CMCSA), Lowe's Co.s (LOW), Nalco (NLC) and Nestle (NSRGY), according to a filing, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Berkshire added to a holding of only one stock in the fourth quarter: Wells Fargo (WFC).

There is no shortage of analysis on the investment techniques of Warren Buffett. It seems that the books about him could fill a library!

However, when looking at his principles, it is not always easy to figure out how he prioritizes things. Of course, few companies have all the criteria.

Well, according to an interview with the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission recently, Buffett gave some interesting insight on this.

For Warren Buffett, it wasn't a big deal. Monday, his company, Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A), agreed to purchase the 19.9% of Wesco Financial Corp. (WSC) it did not already own for $548 million. The stock price was only up 1.33% in early trading. Then again, there was no surprise that this transaction would happen -- and that it would be at roughly the net value of Wesco.

Yet the deal certainly has significance. After all, Wesco has been a part of the Buffett empire for decades, and the chief of the company is Charlie Munger, who is the vice chairman of Berkshire. However, he is 87 years old and yes, he is actually thinking about the process of succession. To do this, there will need to be some reshuffling of assets.

The market is getting gently hammered today, but that only presents more opportunities from my perspective.

I am in Ixtapa, Mexico, nearing the conclusion of my first ever week long rest during a 35 year working career ... and counting. In some ways I am hoping to mold my future working environment from seashore to shining seashore -- all around the world -- taking advantage of modern technology. I am thinking of it as "have beach (+Internet), will travel."

The year 2010 has come and gone and my results are in. This is my fourth annual stock results to be reported on BlogginStocks, so something of a track record is starting to form. This past year ended with a modest improvement over the unmanaged Standard & Poors 500 index

The original story, Chasing Value: 10 Stock Picks for 2010, took readers through a review of many candidates, concluding with the ten picks, using prices from Dec. 28, 2009.

Could a stock that you made 1,100% on still have room to run? Yes, it is possible. In particular if it had a near death experience as a penny stock for a while.

That is the case with Newcastle Investments (NCT), the CMBS lender and real estate investment company that reached a recent high of $7.10 and has settled back down, most recently hovering between $6.70 to $7.00. It closed Thursday December 23 at $6.71.