“I skate to where the puck is going not where it has been.” – Wayne Gretsky I just wanted to share a few pieces of interesting data I came across this week to put the current state of the markets into context.

“Gifted, determined, ambitious professionals have come into investment management in such large numbers during the past 30 years that it may no longer be feasible for any of them to profit from the errors of all the other sufficiently often and by sufficient magnitude to beat market averages.” – Charles Ellis, 1975 Ted Williams is…

“The bad news is that reaching for yield rarely ends well.” – James Montier “Now, if you’re chasing yield, and you’re trying to make your fixed income “do” better, then all bets are off. That’s a dangerous game.” – Carl Richards I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about peer to peer lending as…

“The key to happiness is low overhead and no debt.” – Lynda Barry Since average credit card rates are much higher than average financial market returns, taking on more debt is an easy route to creating a negative net worth. There are many strategies focused on saving more but not a whole lot gets written…

“That’s just a straight shooter with upper management written all over him.” – Bob Slydell The following is a guest post by someone I go to for advice but wishes to remain anonymous as the AWOCS Mystery Contributor.  It’s a great take on money & happiness using one of my favorite movies from the 1990s….

“Even the intelligent investor is likely to need considerable will power to keep from following the crowd.” – Benjamin Graham The chart below, from Scott Krisiloff of Avondale Asset Management, shows the 15 top performing stocks from the Russell 1000 Index since 2003.

“Most people get interested in stocks when everyone else is. The time to get interested is when no one else is.” – Warren Buffett “If it makes me feel like I want to throw up, I can be pretty sure it’s a great investment.” – Brian Posner I hate some of the investments in my…

When we have success in our lives we tend to attribute that success to skill or hard work. When something goes wrong and we fail, we attribute it to bad luck. Sound familiar? I know I do this all the time. It’s easier than admitting that there was some luck involved in our wins and…

“The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.” – Warren Buffett Just a simple post today.  These are my common sense investment rules. Common Sense Rules That Will Ruin Your Investment Portfolio 1. Trying to consistently “beat the market” 2. Trying to forecast the market in…

“What we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.” – Benjamin Disraeli The Wall Street Journal ran an article last week chronicling the stories of young buyers who are stepping up their investments in real estate by, “skipping the starter home and betting heavily on high-end real estate.” We’ve seen this movie…