“My favorite pre-Ponzi schemer was known as '520 Percent Miller' because he promised 10 percent returns a week, or 520 percent a year. Of course he was just using new investors' money to pay old investors, and soon he was on the lam.” YearsCoursesPayKnownWeekReturnPercentMy FavoriteInvestors Author:Mitchell Zuckoff
“The probability of ten consecutive heads is 0.1 percent; thus, when you have millions of coin tossers, or investors, in the end there will be thousands of very successful practitioners of coin tossing, or stock picking.” EndsMillionsSuccessfulTenPercentInvestorsProbabilityCoinsConsecutiveTossers Book:The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World Source: The Age of Turbulence: Adventures in a New World
“"Average" isn't so hot at the race track given those steep track takes. "Average" is pretty decent for stocks, something like 6 percent above the inflation rate. For a buy-and -hold investor, commissions and taxes are small.” GivenRaceTaxesPercentHotRateAverageTrackDecentInvestorsInflationSteepRace Track Author:William Poundstone
“Still, I figure we shouldn't' discourage fans of actively managed funds. With all their buying and selling, active investors ensure the market is reasonably efficient. That makes it possible for the rest of us to do the sensible thing, which is to index. Want to join me in this parasitic behavior? To build a well-diversified portfolio, you might stash 70 percent of your stock portfolio into a Wilshire 5000-index fund and the remaining 30 percent in an international-index fund.” WantWellsStillsMightFansFiguresBehaviorPercentInvestingInternationalActiveSellingBuyingFundInvestorsSensibleEfficientDiscouragingPortfoliosBuying And SellingIndex Funds Author:Paul Samuelson
“Unless an investor has access to “incredibly high-qualified professionals,” they “should be 100 percent passive - that includes almost all individual investors and most institutional investors.” ShouldIndividualPercentInvestingAccessInvestorsPassiveQualified Author:David F. Swensen
“Nothing highlights better the continuing gap between rhetoric and substance in British financial services than the failure of providers here to emulate Jack Bogle's index fund success in the United States. Every professional in the City knows that index funds should be core building blocks in any long-term investor's portfolio. Since 1976, the Vanguard index funds has produced a compound annual return of 12 percent, better than three-quarters of its peer group.” KnowsShouldLongStatesThreeTermUnitedCitiesUnited StatesGroupsBuildingReturnPercentInvestingFinancialBritishCoreBlockSubstanceLong TermFundGapsInvestorsQuartersContinuingRhetoricPeersCompoundsAnnualsHighlightsEmulateProvidersPortfoliosBuilding BlocksVanguardIndex FundsFinancial ServicesPeer Group Author:Jonathan Davis
“A decade ago, I really did believe that the average investor could do it himself. I was wrong. I've come to the sad conclusion that only a tiny minority, at most one percent, are capable of pulling it off. Heck, if Helen Young Hayes, Robert Sanborn, Julian Robertson, and the nation's largest pension funds can't get it right, what chance does John Q. Investor have?” IfsBelieveDoeYoungNationsChanceCapablePercentInvestingAverageDecadesTinyConclusionMinoritiesFundInvestorsPullingPensionHelen Author:William J. Bernstein
“Think today's interest rates are high? The Pilgrims borrowed $7000 from a London company of 70 investors in 1620, and devoted the next 23 years to repaying it at 43 percent.” ThinkingYearsTodayNextInterestCompanyPercentRateLondonInvestorsDevotedBorrowedPilgrimInterest RateRepaying Author:L. M. Boyd
“There are three important principles to Graham's approach. [The first is to look at stocks as fractional shares of a business, which] gives you an entirely different view than most people who are in the market. [The second principle is the margin-of-safety concept, which] gives you the competitive advantage. [The third is having a true investor's attitude toward the stock market, which] if you have that attitude, you start out ahead of 99 percent of all the people who are operating in the stock market - it's an enormous advantage.” PeopleIfsGivingFirstsLooksImportantDifferentThreeViewsAttitudePrinciplesShareApproachPercentConceptsAdvantageThirdsSafetyEnormousInvestorsMarginsCompetitive AdvantageDifferent Views Author:Warren Buffett
“We may have more control, but my point is that, strictly speaking, Rosneft is not a state company. I think that this is an obvious fact, as a foreign investor has a 19.7 percent stake in it.” ThinkingMayStatesFactsCompanyPercentObviousInvestorsStakes Author:Vladimir Putin
“Assuming that the future is like the past, you can outperform 80 percent of your fellow investors over the next several decades by investing in an index fund-and doing nothing else. But acquire the discipline to do something even better: become a long-term index fund investor.” LongPastNextTermDisciplinePercentFellowsAssumingInvestingDecadesLong TermAcquireFundInvestorsDoing NothingIndex Funds Author:Mark Hulbert
“Index investing is an investment strategy that Walter Mitty would love. It takes very little investment knowledge, no skill, practically no time or effort-and outperforms about 80 percent of all investors.” LittlesEffortSkillsPercentStrategyInvestmentInvestingInvestorsPassiveWalter Mitty Book:The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing Source: The Bogleheads' Guide to Investing