Warren Buffett Owns Up To Mistakes - Business Tips from Warren Buffett

What makes a man an even bigger man? A man who is accountable. Warren Buffett is that kind of a man. No wonder he's the world's most widely followed investor.

Being the respectable businessman that he is, Warren Buffett had this to say in his annual letter to shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Warren Buffett's insurance and investment company

"During 2008 I did some dumb things in investments," he wrote, adding later, "I made some errors of omission, sucking my thumb when new facts came in that should have caused me to re-examine my thinking and promptly take action."

"The economy will be in shambles throughout 2009 -- and, for that matter, probably well beyond -- but that conclusion does not tell us whether the stock market will rise or fall."

"Though the path has not been smooth, our economic system has worked extraordinarily well over time," he said. "It has unleashed human potential as no other system has, and it will continue to do so. America's best days lie ahead.

Berkshire Hathaway went down by a significant percentage, overall the company ended the year with $25.54 billion of cash, down from $44.33 billion a year earlier. It said it made roughly $6 billion of acquisitions in 2008, and spent $14.5 billion on fixed-income securities from General Electric Co, Goldman Sachs Group Inc and chewing gum maker Wm Wrigley Jr Co. Buffett sold some stocks to fund the latter purchases.

For all of 2008, profit at Berkshire fell 62 percent to a six-year low of $4.99 billion, or $3,224 per share, from $13.21 billion, or $8,548. Revenue fell 9 percent to $107.8 billion.

Wow even the world's most-admired investors, and Forbes magazine's second-richest American had a bad year in 2008

Some tips, which indexes does Warren Buffett use?

• Standard & Poor's 500
• Britain's FTSE 100
• Europe's Euro Stoxx 50
• Nikkei 225 in Japan