One of the many reasons investors have been so whipsawed by the markets since 2007 is a lack of understanding about the dynamics at work between the financial markets and the economy.

“Credit cards are the crack cocaine of the financial world. They start out as a no-fee way to get instant gratification, but the next thing you know you’re freebasing shoes at Nordstrom.” – Scott Adams One of the first rules of personal finance is to stay out of credit card debt. The average interest rate…

“Wall Street has a few prudent principles; the trouble is that they are always forgotten when they are most needed.” – Benjamin Graham

“But I like to ponder. And pondering things, just sort of thinking about it and thinking about it, turns out to be a pretty good approach.” – Jim Simons

“What goes up comes down, and what goes down comes back up.” – Mark Mobius

“The “winner’s game” of rigorous, individualized values discovery and counseling may not be as financially rewarding to investment managers as the performance “product” business based on price discovery, but as a profession, it would be far more fulfilling.” – Charles Ellis Charles Ellis, author of the classic book investment book Winning the Loser’s Game, came…

“There is no such thing as a perfect portfolio. We’ll only know what was perfect in retrospect. There is, however, a portfolio strategy that will meet your needs. It’s conceived from your financial situation, your understanding of risk, your time horizon and your desires.” – Rick Ferri MarketWatch columnist Brett Arends has been looking for…

“You have to build systems to protect against your lesser self.” – Tim Ferriss I’m a big fan of the new Tim Ferriss podcast. He interviews successful people from a wide range of backgrounds and shares interesting productivity and process improvements. His latest with author Neil Strauss is the best one I’ve listened to yet….

A few months ago I looked at what would happen if you only invested at market peaks over a long time frame. It turned out the results weren’t as bad as you would think. Gaspar Fierro, a blogger at the Spanish website Rankia, decided to run the numbers on the opposite end of the spectrum…

“This is one of the most important rules of investing. If you never peek from the age of 20 to the age of 70, you’ll rip that first 401(k) statement open at age 70, and I recommend you have a doctor on hand because you’ll go into a dead faint. Your heart might even stop….