Forbes Magazine this month ran an extensive profile of Warren Buffett, one of the richest men on the planet. "The Sage of Omaha", as he is known, made his money through investments, He has retained, as the tens of billions have accumulated in his grasp, the folksy touch.

Before rich people's lifestyles were subject to microscopic attention, the wealthy did not have to apologise for being rich. Just as, in the same era, a US president could have an affair with the world's best-known woman, and the public would not hear about it until after he died.

What makes Buffett unique in this regard is that he was a righteous fellow, bookish and socially aware long before such behaviour became the standard public face for the multi-billionaire set. Buffett's hokiness is genuine.

"If you gave me the choice of being CEO of General Electric or IBM or General Motors, you name it, or delivering papers, I would deliver papers. I would," he told Forbes. "I enjoy doing that. I can think about what I want to think. I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. It might be wonderful to be head of GE, and Jeff Immelt is a friend of mine. And he's a great guy. But think of all the things he has to do whether he wants to do them or not."

Buffett is what's called a "value investor". He must know what he's doing; he's the most successful investor who ever lived. This column also endorses value investing. Let Mr. Buffett's words show you how you can be one, too.

Asked what advice he would give to someone who is not a professional investor, Buffett replied: "Well, if they're not going to be an active investor, and very few should try to do that, then they should just stay with index funds. Any low-cost index fund. And they should buy it over time. They're not going to be able to pick the right price and the right time.

"What they want to do is avoid the wrong price and wrong stock. You just make sure you own a piece of American business, and you don't buy it all at one time."

Asked how investors should think, Mr. Buffett replied: "The answer is you don't want investors to think that what they read today is important in terms of their investment strategy. Their investment strategy should factor in that a) if you knew what was going to happen in the economy, you still wouldn't necessarily know what was going to happen in the stock market. And b) they can't pick stocks that are better than average.

"Stocks are a good thing to own over time," he continued. "There's only two things you can do wrong: You can buy the wrong ones, and you can buy or sell them at the wrong time. And the truth is you never need to sell them, basically." The technique to which the Sage is referring is called "buy and hold".

Value investing says you research the living daylights out of companies, looking for specific examples that meet the value criteria.

Those include such basics as being in a business that has prospects and paying a regular dividend (so you earn income while you wait for the stock to achieve its potential), to more esoteric tests of management performance and a raft of other complicated measurements.

Value investing takes time, Years. Decades, sometimes.

But Mr. Buffett hit on a truth not universally acknowledged: You never need to sell them, basically. You just buy more. Unless some catastrophe hits you — and you should be insured against the worst effects of those — you should earn new money to meet your bills and let your stock portfolio just pile up. Stocks are sold only when they achieve their correct value, at which point they no longer offer such good value to the investor.

You become richer as you get older this way, which is really a very good strategy. Underlining his point, Buffett then said: "(Investors) could buy a cross-section of American industry, and if a cross-section of American industry doesn't work, certainly trying to pick the little beauties here and there isn't going to work either." Look up value investing on the web. It's certainly worked for Mr. Buffett.

As time goes by, investors "just have to worry about getting greedy", he pointed out.

"You know, I always say you should get greedy when others are fearful and fearful when others are greedy. But that's too much to expect. Of course, you shouldn't get greedy when others get greedy and fearful when others get fearful. At a minimum, try to stay away from that."

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A company has started accumulating lists of the websites its customers visit, together with the customers' names and addresses. Internet Service Providers, none of whom has been named, are facilitating the venture. Another company will roll out a similar programme, also to be operated anonymously, in the next few months.

This appalling idea will doubtless catch on. I don't know what you get up to online, but one day, probably soon, I will be able to find out, and so will everyone else. Just so's you know.