COOOLLLL

Fortune Magazine just released its annual list of America's Most Admired Companies. Many of these companies are industry leaders and have been able to stay competitive through their innovative marketing techniques, creative research & development, and ability to forecast the market. The following companies were ranked by Fortune Magazine and Hay Group who asked over 3,700 experts to list their top 10 most admired companies.

1. Apple
2. Berkshire Hathaway
3. General Electric
4. Google
5. Toyota Motors
6. Starbucks
7. FedEx
8. Procter & Gamble
9. Johnson & Johnson
10. Goldman Sachs
11. Target
12. Southwest Airlines
13. American Express
14. BMW
15. Costco
16. Microsoft
17. UPS
18. Cisco Systems
19. 3M
20. Nordstrom

For further information, please check out the full list at the link provided below.

Prioritize Career Building Over Market Studying

Fortune magazine drops in on a Q&A Warren Buffett offered to 150 business students, and the advice dispensed by the Oracle of Omaha on investing and money in general is elegantly simple. When one student asked Buffett how to best spend his free time to further his investing knowledge, Buffett avoided generalized advice and told him to stick to what he knows. Fortune paraphrases:

For most people, the bulk of their income is going to come from earning power in their chosen profession. Therefore, from the standpoint of building wealth, free time is better spent sharpening one's professional skills rather than studying investing.

Buffett also advises that those who can't commit serious time to being active investors should stick to buying index and other diversified funds over time, a thought echoed by commenters. Hit the link for more questions and answers with a man who knows from investing.