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In the financial markets, hindsight is forever 20/20, but foresight is legally blind. And thus, for most investors, market timing is a practical and emotional impossibility.

Benjamin Graham

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Benjamin Graham
Age: 82 †
Born: 1894
Born: May 8
Died: 1976
Died: September 21
Economist
Financier
Investor
University Teacher
Writer
London
England
Thus
Hindsight
Market
Impossibility
Financial
Timing
Blind
Markets
Emotional
Investors
Forever
Practicals
Practical
Legally
Investing
Foresight

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Even defensive portfolios should be changed from time to time, especially if the securities purchased have an apparently excessive advance and can be replaced by issues much more reasonable priced.
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The chief losses to investors come from the purchase of low-quality securities at times of favorable business conditions.
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The distinction between investment and speculation in common stocks has always been a useful one and its disappearance is cause for concern.
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The individual investor should act consistently as an investor and not as a speculator. This means ... that he should be able to justify every purchase he makes and each price he pays by impersonal, objective reasoning that satisfies him that he is getting more than his money's worth for his purchase.
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Before you invest, you must ensure that you have realistically assessed your probability of being right and how you will react to the consequences of being wrong.
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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.
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The sillier the market's behavior, the greater the opportunity for the business like investor.
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Abnormally good or abnormally bad conditions do not last forever.
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It's nonsensical to derive a price/earnings ratio by dividing the known current price by unknown future earnings.
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The only thing you should do with pro forma earnings is ignore them.
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Thousands of people have tried, and the evidence is clear: The more you trade, the less you keep.
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The investor should be aware that even though safety of its principal and interest may be unquestioned, a long term bond could vary widely in market price in response to changes in interest rates.
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If you are shopping for common stocks, choose them the way you would buy groceries, not the way you would buy perfume.
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Do not let anyone else run your business
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Have the courage of your knowledge and experience. If you have formed a conclusion from the facts and if you know your judgment is sound, act on it – even though others may hesitate or differ.
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To establish the right price for a stock, the market must have adequate information, but it by no means follows that is the market has this information it will thereupon establish the right price.
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