“Opinion is ultimately determined by the feelings, and not by the intellect.” – Herbert Spencer

“Successful investing can almost be easy: Avoid harmful “accidents” and do what will achieve your own most important long-term objectives. The very human irony is that learning this lesson can take so many years that by the time we “get it,” it may be too late to use the lesson because the powers of compounding…

“In my whole life, I have known no wise people over a broad subject matter area who didn’t read all the time – none, zero.” – Charlie Munger These are the best books I’ve read in 2013. INVESTING Backstage Wall Street by Josh Brown Brown spent a number of years working as a commissioned broker…

“It’s one of my first principles that we never know where we’re going – given the unreliability of macro forecasting – but we ought to know where we are.” – Howard Marks Reader mailbag: I read your article about stock levels (New Round Numbers! What Does it All Mean?) and I’m curious how you could…

“There are some frauds so well conducted that it would be stupidity not to be deceived by them.” – Charles Cotton I was reading the book Think Twice by Michael Mauboussin recently (great book for anyone interested in behavioral psychology and how your brain processes information in a counterintuitive way) and he shared a story…

“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

One of the prevailing theories on the sad state of affairs of the retirement statistics in this country is that our employers have failed us. The line of thinking goes like this: Employers used to provide the majority of workers with pension income for retirement as thanks for being a loyal employee.  Since pensions have…

“The question of whether we’re due a market correction next week or next month doesn’t matter because we have a plan that accounts for the possibility that it will happen someday.” – Carl Richards

“Reduce decision making. Think about the routine things that can be made automatic—from what you eat for lunch to where you live.” – Dr. Michael Joyner Personal finance people love to compare losing weight and getting your financial house in order. It’s the go-to personal finance analogy and I’ve heard it hundreds of times. It…

“You can’t control what markets can do, but you can control the costs you pay. The less you pay to the purveyors of investment services, the more there will be for you. The quintessential low-cost investment vehicles are index funds, which should comprise the core of every investment portfolio. The high fees charged for active…