Best 781 quotes in «investing quotes» category

[W]e think the very term 'value investing' is redundant. What is 'investing' if it is not the act of seeking value at least sufficient to justify the amount paid? Consciously paying more for a stock than its calculated value -- in the hope that it can soon be sold for a still-higher price -- should be labeled speculation (which is neither illegal, immoral nor -- in our view -- financially fattening).

Whatever men attempt, they seem driven to overdo. When hopes are soaring, I always repeat to myself that two and two still make four.

What people today call inflation is not inflation, i.e., the increase in the quantity of money and money substitutes, but the general rise in commodity prices and wage rates which is the inevitable consequence of inflation.

What's both fascinating and challenging about investing is that the changing nature of business and finance means you can never have it all figured out.

What's nice about investing is you don't have to swing at every pitch.

When an investor focuses on short-term investments, he or she is observing the variability of the portfolio, not the returns - in short, being fooled by randomness.

When a management with a reputation for brilliance tackles a business with a reputation for bad economics, it is the reputation of the business that remains intact.

When a possibility is unfamiliar to us, we do not even think about it.

What we've done last night is what I call pushing back the risks..If there is a risk in a bank, our first question should be 'Okay, what are you in the bank going to do about that? What can you do to recapitalise yourself? If the bank can't do it, then we'll talk to the shareholders and the bondholders, we'll ask them to contribute in recapitalising the bank, and if necessary the uninsured deposit holders.

When a bank makes a loan, it simply adds to the borrower's deposit account by the amount of the loan. It does not take this money from anyone else's deposit; it was not previously paid in to the bank by anyone. It's new money, created by the bank for the use of the borrower.

When anyone says to me, 'Can you keep a secret?' I say, 'Why should I, if you can't?'

When Berkshire buys common stock, we approach the transaction as if we were buying into a private business.

When buying shares, ask yourself, would you buy the whole company?

When government 'creates jobs' by taking money from the private sector and 'investing' in favored projects, it is not truly productive activity. Rather, the government has preempted the economic process, forbidding it to serve consumers so that it can instead serve the objectives of politicians and bureaucrats.

When stock prices are rising, it's called ''momentum investing''; when they are falling, it's called ''panic.''

When I buy a stock, I have kind of an idea where I want to sell it.

When interest rates are low we have conditions for asset bubbles to develop, and they are developing at the moment. The ultimate asset bubble is gold.

When money is free, the rational lender will keep on lending until there is no one else to lend to.

When the Federal government buys the mortgages, they're not spending it, they're investing it.

When the brothel burns down, even the pretty girls have to run out.

While enthusiasm may be necessary for great accomplishments elsewhere, on Wall Street it almost invariably leads to disaster

When they get their ego involved, people do things they shouldn't do.

When we look at investing, we always think about 'how defensible is this, how likely is it that somebody is going to copy this.' E-commerce tends to be something easy to copy because it's execution.

When you sell options, you get paid for assuming risk. That can be a profitable business, but it does not mix well with the risks inherent in a leveraged portfolio.

When you build a bridge, you insist that it can carry 30,000 pounds, but you only drive 10,000-pound trucks across it. And that same principle works in investing.

When you - when you - and this is still going on today - are making your money by pushing paper around, when you should be making your money by investing venture capital in various job-creating things, that makes it much harder to recover.

Where prejudice exists it always discolors our thoughts.

While the apostles of the new so-called "behavioral" theory present ample evidence of how often human beings make irrational financial decisions, it remains to be seen whether these decisions lead to predictable errors that create systematic mispricings upon which rational investors can readily and economically capitalize.

You can learn investing by reading books.

Why did God invent economists? To make weathermen feel good about themselves.

Why do you have to be a nonconformist like everybody else?

With a wonderful business, you can figure out what will happen; you can't figure out when it will happen. You don't want to focus on when, you want to focus on what. If you're right about what, you don't have to worry about when

You are spending millions and millions of dollars of other peoples money when you make a movie. You have to at least approach it in a way where you can see how you can make that money back for the people who are investing.

Why not invest your assets in the companies you really like? As Mae West said, 'Too much of a good thing can be wonderful'.

Without investing in the rule of law for the poor, none of the other investments we make will be sustainable.

You can find good reasons to scuttle your equities in every morning paper and on every broadcast of the nightly news.

You can talk all you want about having a clear purpose and strategy for your life, but ultimately this means nothing if you are not investing the resources you have in a way that is consistent with your strategy. In the end, a strategy is nothing but good intentions unless it's effectively implemented.

You don't get rewarded for taking risk; you get rewarded for buying cheap assets. And if the assets you bought got pushed up in price simply because they were risky, then you are not going to be rewarded for taking a risk; you are going to be punished for it.

You could be somewhere where the mail was delayed three weeks and do just fine investing.

You don't get what you want from investing, you get what you deserve.

You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don't understand that's going to happen, then you're not ready, you won't do well in the markets.

You learn in this business.. If you want a friend, get a dog.

You have to be constantly reinventing yourself and investing in the future.

You have never lost money in stocks over any 20-year period, but you have wiped out half your portfolio in bonds (after inflation). So which is the riskier asset?

You have to have a personal connection. You have to really want to do it, because if you don't, investing yourself personally, your thoughts, your emotions, yourself into a part, is something you're not going to want to do as much.

You have to invest the way that's comfortable for you.

You hear all this whining going on, "Where are our great writers?" The thing I might feel doleful about is: Where are the readers?

You just have to be opportunistic, and try to figure out what creates value.. where the bottom is, what creates incremental value, and in what combinations.

You know ... you keep doing the same things and you keep getting the same result over and over again.

Your life must focus on the maximization of objectivity.