Billionaire Warren Buffett

Billionaire Warren Buffett, whose stock picks over several decades have turned Berkshire Hathaway Inc. into one of the most successful conglomerates, wants investors to be wary of the high fees Wall Street routinely charges because of the damage they do to investment returns.

“When trillions of dollars are managed by Wall Streeters charging high fees, it will usually be the managers who reap outsized profits, not the clients,” Buffett, widely considered one of the world’s best investors, said in his annual letter to shareholders.

He says he estimates that wealthy investors who use high-priced advisers have wasted over $100 billion over the past decade.

Buffett devoted a section of his annual letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders Saturday to explaining again the benefits low-cost index funds have over most other investments.

“Both large and small investors should stick with low-cost index funds.”

Buffett has often said he believes most stock investors are better off with low-cost index funds than paying higher fees to managers who often underperform.

Buffett again praised the country’s market system for its ability to allow Americans to continue building “mind-boggling amounts” of wealth.

Buffett devoted most of his letter to detailing the evolution of Berkshire and the performance of the Omaha, Nebraska-based company last year. His annual letters are always well read.

During the financial crisis, Buffett bet a founder of the asset management company Protege Partners LLC $1 million that a Vanguard S&P 500 stock index fund would outperform several groups of hedge funds of over the 10 years through 2017. The index fund is up 85.4 percent, Buffett said, while the hedge fund groups are up between 2.9 percent and 62.8 percent.

On Saturday, Buffett said the figures leave “no doubt” that he will win the bet. He plans to donate the money to Girls Inc. of Omaha, a charity.