Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.A) (NYSE: BRK.B) manages a large portfolio of stock investments. Many ordinary investors, like you and me, monitor this list for ideas about what to buy next. Any stock that passes Buffett's genius-level analysis must be something special, after all.

That's a good starting point, but you shouldn't simply copy Berkshire's stock holdings without further analysis. Some stocks in its portfolio have been there for decades, and holding on to a firmly established long-haul winner is not the same thing as starting a fresh position at current prices. And Buffett's deep-pocketed strategy targets very different goals than my retirement savings account.

Furthermore, many of Buffett's investments are built on a deep mastery of industries I can't claim to understand. For me, buying bank stocks is like my dog chasing cars -- even if I catch a good one, I wouldn't know what to do with it. Buffett would know when to sell, leaving me flat-footed with a poorer long-term outcome.

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Source Fool.com