“People who buy things are suckers.” – Ron Swanson Just kidding. I’m way too impatient and/or lazy to get up early and deal with the huge crowds on Black Friday. My Christmas shopping strategy is to do as much of it online as possible. Amazon is my go-to first option. They have nearly everything on…

“Whenever I have lost money in the stock market I have always considered that I have learned something; that if I have lost money I have gained experience, so that the money really went for a tuition fee. A man has to have experience and he has to pay for it.” – Jesse Livermore Reminiscences…

“Stock picking is for fun. Asset allocation is for making money over the long haul.” – Barry Ritholtz

A bear market is normally defined as a drop of 20% or more in stock prices. By this definition, according to BAML, there have been 25 bear markets since 1929. That means markets have averaged one roughly every 3.5 years or so. Unfortunately, market averages aren’t neat and tidy. They trade in both short and…

The Atlantic published an interesting graphic recently on how the average life expectancy has changed from 1880 to today. In 1880, the average life expectancy was 39.4! Fast forward to a baby born in 2012 and their average life expectancy nearly doubles to just shy of 80 years. Each of the dots on the graph…

“If you’re investing for a lifetime – and you should be, saving for retirement and educating your kids along the way – if you’re 20 years old now, you should be thinking 60 or 65 years as your time horizon.” – John Bogle

“Good judgment comes from experience, and experience comes from bad judgment.” – Barry Le Platner

“An investor should have an adequate idea of stock market history, in terms particularly of the major fluctuations. With this background he may be in a position to form some worthwhile judgment of the attractiveness or dangers…of the market.” – Benjamin Graham

“We should try to find value among the knowable – industries, companies and securities – rather than base our decisions on what we expect from the less-knowable macro world of economics and broad market performance.” – Howard Marks Being a decent investor is fairly easy. You invest in low cost, highly diversified index funds, set…

“If you know how to spend less than you get, you have the philosopher’s stone.” – Benjamin Franklin