Portfolio Game

What's stopping other traders from simply copying the same portfolio investment strategies as the "Big Names"?

For instance, why couldn't someone just visit a site like this: http://www.gurufocus.com/holdings.php (which follows the investment portfolio of arguably the most famous and successful trader known today, Warren Buffett) Couldn't they then simply ask their stockbroker for the same stocks, but in amounts they can afford?

Public Comments

1. Spam
2. Nobody is stopping nobody. Anyone is allowed to follow the Gurus' portfolio. To double check on the portfolio, you can goto http://form4oracle.com to reconfirm.
3. Most people dont have the patience to build their wealth over the course of 15 or more years. Professional portfolios are usually managed for long term growth.
4. No. First, much of the data you see is old. Do you want to invest in a position that one of the "big names" may not have any more? Second, you won't see all of someone's position. If their holding is less than a certain threshold (5% for some reporting, 10% for other reporting) you won't get to see that position at all. Finally, many of the companies that Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway owns are privately held. That is Berkshire owns ALL of the shares and they're not listed on any exchange. There's no way you could buy that part of the portfolio.
5. Warren Buffet, and all of the other gurus of investing have account positions that you could copy. However, what you cannot copy is the size of the positions and trading they do on the accounts. You would always be smaller, and less effective in the trading, and you would always be a certain amount of time behind the 'winners'.