It is that time of year again - the time when the "Oracle of Omaha", the "greatest investor alive", the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Warren Buffett, delivers his letter to shareholders (PDF). Here are four interesting discussion points from this year's letter.

Did we seriously just spend $830Bn to give tax cuts to the rich when we’re already $15Tn in debt? When 20M Americans are officially out of work and another 30M have jobs where they can’t make ends meet? Did Obama and the Democratic "leadership" just fold like an empty suit and sell what’s left of their supporters down the river and in exchange for what?

At one time or another, we all have thought, ‘If only knew this when I was younger.’ I purchased my first dividend stock for income in 2003. Like many newly converted income investors, I was chasing yield. I quickly built a portfolio consisting of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs), Master Limited Partnerships (MLPs) and high yield, high risk stocks.

If you want to lower the risk of your income portfolio and position yourself to increase returns, you can not ignore asset allocation. Many dividend investors loaded up on banks and other high-yield financials, only to see their portfolios collapse along with the financial markets. So what can you do to protect your portfolio from stock and sector specific declines?