We individual investors truly admire Warren Buffett. I’m sure it’s not only because of his enduring investment successes, but partly because we all see him as someone with whom we can identify. We admire that he’s not caught up with the excesses many other of the extremely rich are caught up in, such as multiple mansions, cars, yachts, or the ever infamous $6,000.00 shower curtain. He’s about as honest, forthcoming, unassuming and unpretentious as they come.

Like every other investor out there, I too admire Warren Buffett. But, there happens to be another, less well-known, successful long-term investor with whom I can identify even more. Someone whose qualities I admire even more than Warren Buffett’s.

Nope, it’s not Peter Lynch, George Soros, Rupert Murdoch, Benjamin Graham, or even Donald Trump. It’s someone who’s overcome tremendous odds to become successful, someone who lives frugally, but someone who finds happiness with the simple things in life… someone like me.

It’s time to visit the “other” Warren Buffett, the investor that every average individual American can identify with. Someone who can truly make you believe that you can succeed.

It’s time we re-visit my hero, Mr. Earl Crawley.

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.’s deal to buy Bear Stearns for $2 a share wiped out the life savings of many of Bear’s 14,000 employees, who owned one-third of the firm’s shares. Most employees at Bear, known for its loyalty and a strong merit-driven culture, expected to lose their jobs.

Mr. Raphael, a Bear Stearns board member until recently, said he spent the weekend telling clients their money was safe and added that all Wall Street brokers were vulnerable. “I blame the system, I blame greed,” he said. “Wall Street is really predicated on greed. This could happen to any firm.”

Now, no one likes to hear of someone’s life savings being wiped-out. I know that I would be devastated if it happened to me. It’s truly a tragedy, and one that could have easily been prevented.

BUT, Bear Stearns is a mega-financial firm, ones which deals with investing issues everyday, one which knows the value of appropriate asset allocation, and one that knows the risks involved by not being diversified.

IMO, if you work for Bear Stearns, you should have had the knowledge and foresight to have your life savings diversified and appropriately allocated. Even the non-financial workers at BSC should have been aware of the risks of keeping a large portion of one’s life savings in company stock.

Did we not learn that lesson from the Enron and WorldCom crises? Anyone who’s ever read a magazine, newspaper, listened to the radio, or watched television knows to be careful about buying company stock in their retirement account. That experience should have cemented in everyones’ minds the risks associated with investing in company stock.

So, when it comes to the blame game, please remember to look first in the mirror, and then second with the “expert” managers with whom you’ve entrusted your savings. Don’t shift the blame to others, where it doesn’t belong.

A short description of the show and the WealthTrack transcript:

How to keep a cool head when the financial news turns scary? Two professors who study the markets and investor psychology will have some advice. Harvard’s David Laibson specializes in behavioral economics, while Princeton’s Burton Malkiel is author of the investment classic, A Random Walk Down Wall Street. Also joining us will be Tom Petrie, one of the savviest energy analysts on Wall Street.

If you’re someone like me, a person who invests in low-cost index mutual funds but plays the stock market with a small portion of his portfolio, then you’ll find the views of these guests informative and entertaining.

In that post, John writes:

BOSTON (MarketWatch) — Vanguard Group has a unique ownership structure that allows the investment giant to provide mutual-funds at a low cost. But with a new chief executive coming on board, questions are being raised about whether Vanguard will continue as a firm that’s mutually held by its fund shareholders (my emphasis).

What crazy people in the investment world would be raising such questions?

Were they there to raise questions or concerns when the investment bankers, mortgage brokers, debt barons, insurers, and even the government lied to us about all of things that led to this ongoing credit crisis?

Are they now raising questions about the splitting-up of the monoline insurers, the possible near-term failure of the PBGC, or the government bailout of the corporations that caused all of these problems to begin with?

So with all of these crises happening now, who in their right minds would be raising such idiotic questions about The Vanguard Group, the world’s most trusted and individual-investor friendly investment company?

Get real. Of course it’s going to remain mutually-held.