What you pay for an investment is the single biggest determinant for how successful that investment will be. When equity prices are high, your returns will be lower. When they are cheap, your returns will be higher. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
As investors, we want to believe we are smart, insightful and uniquely talented – even though we often fail to do the heavy lifting, put in the long hours, and make the uncomfortable but necessary decisions to achieve success. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
If your investing approach requires that you become Nostradamus to succeed, then you are destined to fail. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
Whenever you try to pick market tops and bottoms, you are making a prediction. Guessing what stock is going to outperform the market is forecasting, as is selling a stock for no apparent reason. Indeed, nearly all capital decisions made by most people are unconscious predictions. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
Even when you are right, there are costs and taxes associated with being tactical. When you are wrong, there are opportunity costs. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
If you think too-big-to-fail banks are not worthy of investment because of their impossible-to-read balance sheets, well then, don’t buy them. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
If you are not making any mistakes, you are being excessively risk-averse. Investing involves risk, and that means you will occasionally be wrong. And although it is okay to be wrong, it is not okay to stay wrong. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
Here is a dirty little secret: Stock-picking is wildly overrated. Sure, it makes for great cocktail party chatter, and what is more fun than delving into a company’s new products? But the truth is that individual stocks are riskier than broad indices. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
We must recognize our own behavioral errors. To be blunt, you are not likely to become a cognitive Zen master anytime soon. But a little enlightenment could keep you from making some common investing errors. Barry Ritholtz Read Quote
