Benjamin Graham (born Benjamin Grossbaum; May 8, 1894 – September 21, 1976), considered the father of value investing, explained his investment philosophy in 'The Intelligent Investor' - arguably the best book ever on investing. We list below some of the most enlightening quotes from this book on investing, speculating, and what to look for in a financial advisor...
Investing vs speculating
1) People who invest make money for themselves; people who speculate make money for their brokers.
2) Never mingle your speculative and investment operations in the same account nor in any part of your thinking.
3) Thousands of people have tried, and the evidence is clear: The more you trade, the less you keep.
4) In the short run the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.
What is takes to be 'An Intelligent Investor?
5) The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists.
6) To invest successfully over a lifetime does not require a stratospheric IQ, unusual business insights, or inside information. What’s needed is a sound intellectual framework for making decisions and the ability to keep emotions from corroding that framework.
7) Investing isn’t about beating others at their game. It’s about controlling yourself at your own game.
8) The best way to measure your investing success is not by whether you’re beating the market but by whether you’ve put in place a financial plan and a behavioral discipline that are likely to get you where you want to go.
9) Successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it.
What to look for in a financial advisor?
10) There is no reason to feel any shame in hiring someone to pick stocks or mutual funds for you. But there’s one responsibility that you must never delegate. You, and no one but you, must investigate whether an adviser is trustworthy and charges reasonable fees.
11) Before you place your financial future in the hands of an adviser, it’s imperative that you find someone who not only makes you comfortable but whose honesty is beyond reproach.
12) If fees consume more than 1% of your assets annually, you should probably shop for another adviser.