I remembered this thread when I saw this pop up yesterday.
Warren Buffett picks simple index fund for his inheritance to wife - Barrons.com
Talk about putting your money where your mouth is. If Buffett's old lady inherits the world he's instructed the lawyers that 90% of the cash, (his Berkshire shares are all going to charity), simply go into one of Vanguard's index funds. 10% will go into bonds. Not surprising to those who
know of his long-standing bet against anyone on Wall Street who thinks they beat that fund over 10 years. The point of the bet was to show that inverstors are needlessly over-paying for performance at virtually every income level.
Either way this is Buffett's rubbishing of any actively managed mutual fund, any hedge fund or whatever kind of fund. Yet people still choose or are forced (via pre-selected 401K funds) to needlessly waste their finite capital in actively managed investments that can not beat a simple S&P index fund and can suck away at your annual returns, which they cleverly disguise by trying to have you believe that the expense ratio is the only signifcant management cost.