In 1999, Warren Buffett told Business Week, "If I was running $1 million today, or $10 million for that matter, I'd be fully invested.  Anyone who says that size does not hurt investment performance is selling. The highest rates of return I've ever achieved were in the 1950s. I killed the Dow. You ought to see the numbers. But I was investing peanuts then. It's a huge structural advantage not to have a lot of money. I think I could make you 50% a year on $1 million. No, I know I could. I guarantee that."

In the 1950s Buffett invested in tiny stocks at dirt cheap prices. It seems clear from his comments that if he had a modest sum to manage, Buffett would not be buying Coca Cola or Wells Fargo, and if I want to give myself the best chance of producing very high returns and to significantly beat the market averages, I shouldn’t either. Rather, I need to spend my time, as Buffett said in 2005 to a group of students, "turning over a lot of rocks" to find those investments that are "way off the map."