Is it possible for small investors to beat the Warren Buffets of the world at stock market investing and earn 50% annual returns, legally that is? One author asserts this is possible via smart investing based on Buffett's own investment principles.

The Oracle of Omaha admits that he aims to beat the S&P 500 by several percentage points a year on average, but he can no longer outperform the market by as much as he used to. That's not because he is old, but rather because the size of his portfolio is so huge. Buffett bemoans the fact that he can no longer buy the high-growth, small-cap stocks that produced such stellar investment returns for Berkshire in its early years. Back in 1999, he said that if he had $10,000 to invest, he would focus on smaller companies because there is a greater chance that something was overlooked in that arena.