I recently finished reading ‘The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable’ by Nassim Nicholas Taleb, the Lebanese essayist, writer, philosopher. I had read his ‘Fooled by Randomness’ a few years back, and the essential message of this book is, more or less, similar. The basic premise of both the books is this: The … Read more
Philip Fisher was an American investor best known as the pioneer of growth investing and the author of Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits, a guide to growth investing that has remained in print ever since it was first published in 1958. 1. There is a complicating factor that makes the handling of investment mistakes more difficult. This is the … Read more
1. Successful investing is only common sense. Each system for investing will eventually become obsolete. 2. The time to buy a stock is when the short-term owners have finished selling and the time to sell a stock is often when short-term owners have finished their buying. 3. Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on … Read more
John Bogle was the founder and retired CEO of the Vanguard Group. He is known for his 1999 book Common Sense on Mutual Funds: New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor, which became a bestseller and is considered a classic. A proponent of mutual funds for individual investors to build long term wealth, Bogle (through Vanguard) was the … Read more
1. Only when the tide goes out do you discover who’s been swimming naked. 2. A public-opinion poll is no substitute for thought. 3. Beware of geeks bearing formulas. 4. Derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction. 5. Never ask a barber if you need a haircut 6. I never attempt to make money on … Read more
Again continuing on Benjamin Graham, this weekend I was privileged to have read a book by this title “Benjamin Graham, Building a Profession”. It is a collection of rare writings by and interviews with one of financial history’s most brilliant visionaries. The book presents Graham’s evolution of ideas on security analysis spanning five decades. Particularly … Read more
Continuing on the topic of investing wisdom from Benjamin Graham, here are a few more excerpts from the Master’s writings. 1. On Portfolio Policy: We are thus led to put forward for most of our readers what may appear to be an oversimplified 50-50 formula. Under this plan, the guiding rule is to maintain as … Read more
Peter Lynch was a mutual fund manager for Fidelity Investments, famous for managing the Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990. He often was a proponent of the theory that individuals were better placed than institutions to identify good investments. He was also author of two famous books, One Up on Wall Street and Beating the … Read more
Benjamin Graham, widely known as the Father of Value Investing, was a professor and an investment manager. Known as the founding father of the profession of security analysis, Graham wrote two of the most valuable books in the area of investing: “The Intelligent Investor” and “Security Analysis”. Credited by Buffett as the key influence on … Read more