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A commodity doesn't have the same characteristics as a security, characteristics that allow for analysis. Other than a recent sale or appreciation due to inflation, analyzing the current or future worth of a commodity is nearly impossible.

Seth Klarman

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Seth Klarman
Age: 67
Born: 1957
Born: May 21
New York City
New York
Seth Andrew Klarman
Appreciation
Inflation
Analysis
Commodity
Allow
Recent
Worth
Characteristics
Security
Dues
Impossible
Current
Future
Currents
Analyzing
Doesn
Nearly
Sale

More quotes by Seth Klarman

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I think Buffett is a better investor than me because he has a better eye toward what makes a great business. And when I find a great business I'm happy to buy it and hold it. Most businesses don't look so great to me.
Seth Klarman
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There are no long-term lessons - ever.
Seth Klarman
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Once you adopt a value-investment strategy, any other investment behavior starts to seem like gambling.
Seth Klarman
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Risk is not inherent in an investment it is always relative to the price paid. Uncertainty is not the same as risk. Indeed, when great uncertainty - such as in the fall of 2008 - drives securities prices to especially low levels, they often become less risky investments.
Seth Klarman
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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
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One of the biggest challenges in investing is that the opportunity set available today is not the complete opportunity set that should be considered. Limiting your opportunity set to the one immediately at hand would be like limiting your spouse to the students you met in high school
Seth Klarman
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We are big fans of fear, and in investing it is clearly better to be scared than sorry.
Seth Klarman
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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
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Generally, the greater the stigma or revulsion, the better the bargain.
Seth Klarman
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Investing is the intersection of economics and psychology.
Seth Klarman
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Investing today may well be harder than it has been at any time in our three decades of existence.
Seth Klarman
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It turns out that value investing is something that is in your blood. There are people who just don't have the patience and discipline to do it, and there are people who do. So it leads me to think it's genetic.
Seth Klarman
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Ratings agencies are highly conflicted, unimaginative dupes. They are blissfully unaware of adverse selection and moral hazard. Investors should never trust them.
Seth Klarman
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Investors should always keep in mind that the most important metric is not the returns achieved but the returns weighed against the risks incurred. Ultimately, nothing should be more important to investors than the ability to sleep soundly at night.
Seth Klarman
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To a value investor, investments come in three varieties: undervalued at one price, fairly valued at another price, and overvalued at still some higher price. The goal is to buy the first, avoid the second, and sell the third.
Seth Klarman
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In contrast to the speculators preoccupation with rapid gain, value investors demonstrate their risk aversion by striving to avoid loss.
Seth Klarman
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As Graham, Dodd and Buffett have all said, you should always remember that you don't have to swing at every pitch. You can wait for opportunities that fit your criteria and if you don't find them, patiently wait. Deciding not to panic is still a decision.
Seth Klarman
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When all feels calm and prices surge, the markets may feel safe but, in fact, they are dangerous because few investors are focusing on risk.
Seth Klarman
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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
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Be indifferent if you lose your short term clients, remember they are your own worst enemy
Seth Klarman