Lessons From The Masters
Mark Twain has been quoted as saying, “History does not repeat itself, but it rhymes.” Eunoia agrees with the great American writer and believes that we should learn from history and from those who have successfully navigated it. Therefore, Eunoia makes an effort to study the market and how it rhymes with historical periods. Eunoia also takes the time to study the methods and thoughts of those who have succeeded before. Below, we provide a handful of quotes from the masters of the markets, and humbly add one from Eunoia’s founder.
Buy Groceries, not Perfume
“If you are shopping for common stocks, choose them the way you would buy groceries, not the way you would buy perfume.”
– Benjamin Graham
Understand the Company
“If you’re prepared to invest in a company, then you ought to be able to explain why, in simple language that a fifth grader could understand, and quickly enough so the fifth grader won’t get bored.”
– Peter Lynch
Debt be Damned
“He believed in cash. He did not like companies that had a lot of bonds.”
– Irving Khan
Never forget to Account for the Psychology of the Investor
“You can have an extraordinary difference in the price level mainly because not only speculators but because investors themselves are looking at the situation through rose colored glasses rather than dark blue glasses.”
– Benjamin Graham
Quality and Value
“We try to own common stocks of high quality companies with good earnings growth prospects… we try to buy these companies at prices we believe underestimate their real value.”
– William Ruane
Buy Cheap
“If a stock is cheap, I start buying.”
– Walter Schloss
Market Forecasting
“Nobody knows what the market will do.”
– William Ruane
Don’t Follow the Market
“Lemmings always lose.”
– Irving Kahn
Be Willing to Buy Something No One Else Wants, Cheaply
“… he talked about risk based on the fact that he wanted to buy something at less than 50 cents on the dollar. He just wanted to buy something that was undervalued.”
– Edwin Schloss, son of Walter Schloss
Comb Through Balance Sheets
“I remember years ago that they’d (Ben Graham and Walter Schloss) look through the manuals and tear sheets, it’s not so different from today, for years my dad and I, we’d go through Value Line and we’d look and try to find the stock that was the best value within each industry group.”
– Edwin Schloss, son of Walter Schloss
Think Long Term
“Spinsoza said you must look at things in the aspect of eternity.”
– Marshall Weinberg
Understand the Company
“Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.”
– Peter Lynch
Fundamentals… and Forget the Rest
“… just be interested in fundamentals and forget the rest, and have patience.”
– Marshall Weinberg
Timing Can Be Elusive
“Knowing what is going to happen is not the same thing as knowing when it will happen.”
– Richard Suvak
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