Quote

There are no long-term lessons - ever.

Seth Klarman

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

Seth Klarman
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 21
New York City
New York
Seth Andrew Klarman
Term
Ever
Long
Lessons

More quotes by Seth Klarman

Image
People should be highly sceptical of anyone's including their own, ability to predict the future, and instead pursue strategies that can survive whatever may occur.
Seth Klarman
Image
When managers are afraid of redemptions, they get liquid. We all saw how many managers went from leveraged long in 2007 to huge net cash in 2008, when the right thing to do in terms of value would have been to do the opposite.
Seth Klarman
Image
Benjamin Graham wrote, Those with enterprise haven't the money, and those with money haven't the enterprise, to buy stocks when they are cheap.
Seth Klarman
Image
The inability to hold cash and the pressure to be fully invested at all times meant that when the plug was pulled out of the tub, all boats dropped as the water rushed down the drain.
Seth Klarman
Image
Why should the immediate opportunity set be the only one considered, when tomorrow's may well be considerably more fertile than today's?
Seth Klarman
Image
Successful investors must temper the arrogance of taking a stand with a large dose of humility, accepting that despite their efforts and care, they may in fact be wrong.
Seth Klarman
Image
There are only a few things investors can do to counteract risk: diversify adequately, hedge when appropriate, and invest with a margin of safety. It is a precisely because we do not and cannot know all the risks of an investment that we strive to invest at a discount. The bargain element helps to provide a cushion for when things go wrong.
Seth Klarman
Image
It's awful to have a depression, but it's a great thing to have a depression mentality because it means that we are not speculating, we are not living beyond our means, we don't quit our job to take a big risk because we know we might not get another job. There is something stable about a country, a society built on those values.
Seth Klarman
Image
In reality, no one knows what the market will do trying to predict it is a waste of time, and investing based upon that prediction is a speculative undertaking.
Seth Klarman
Image
At Baupost, we constantly ask: 'What should we work on today?' We keep calling and talking. We keep gathering information. You never have perfect information. So you work, work and work. Sometimes we thumb through ValuLine. How you fill your inbox is very important.
Seth Klarman
Image
The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long-term orientation.
Seth Klarman
Image
Pressure to produce over the short term - a gun to the head of everyone - encourages excessive risk taking which manifests itself in several ways - fully invested posture at all times, the use of leverage, and a market centric orientation that makes it difficult to stand apart from the crowd and take a long term perspective.
Seth Klarman
Image
At equal returns, public investments are generally superior to private investments not only because they are more liquid but also because amidst distress, public markets are more likely than private ones to offer attractive opportunities to average down.
Seth Klarman
Image
Almost no one will accept responsibility for his or her role in precipitating a crisis: not leveraged speculators, not willfully blind leaders of financial institutions, and certainly not regulators, government officials, ratings agencies or politicians.
Seth Klarman
Image
Gold is unique because it has the age-old aspect of being viewed as a store of value. Nevertheless, it’s still a commodity and has no tangible value, and so I would say that gold is a speculation. But because of my fear about the potential debasing of paper money and about paper money not being a store of value, I want some exposure to gold.
Seth Klarman
Image
In contrast to the speculators preoccupation with rapid gain, value investors demonstrate their risk aversion by striving to avoid loss.
Seth Klarman
Image
Ratings agencies are highly conflicted, unimaginative dupes. They are blissfully unaware of adverse selection and moral hazard. Investors should never trust them.
Seth Klarman
Image
A tipping point is invisible, as we just saw in Greece. In most situations, everything appears fine until it's not fine, until, for example, no one shows up at a Treasury auction.
Seth Klarman
Image
Value investing requires a great deal of hard work, unusually strict discipline, and a long-term investment horizon. Few are willing and able to devote sufficient time and effort to become value investors, and only a fraction of those have the proper mind-set to succeed.
Seth Klarman
Image
All an investor can do is follow a consistently disciplined and rigorous approach over time the returns will come
Seth Klarman