You're a hands-on investor -- good for you! You like to research companies before investing your hard-earned money in them. You pore over their financial reports, and you scan the media for news about them. You crunch numbers to determine where you're most likely to get the biggest bang for your bucks. That all makes sense.

In a previous column, we pointed out several reasons to consider buying a used car instead of a new one. For many Fools, used cars are a tremendous value purchase. But there certainly are benefits to buying new, benefits that go well beyond that new-car smell.

By Nathan Alderman:

I want a nice big HDTV so badly, I can almost taste it. Gazing slack-jawed at my parents' new LCD screen last Christmas only whetted my technolust.

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

It's not surprising that mimicking Warren Buffett's moves over the years would leave you well ahead of the pack. That's why it's great news that as an elephant-sized investment vehicle, Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) (NYSE: BRK-B) is required to periodically report some of its investments.