The Classics Never Get Old ...

Like a great cup of coffee, curling up next to the fireplace with a good book, or the feeling you get when you put your hands on the steering wheel of a new car, there are a few things in life that are guaranteed to make you feel good, no matter how many times you experience them. In the world of investing, Ben Graham is that classic. While I was working in my office today, I picked up one of the copies of The Intelligent Investor I have on my bookcase and opened it.

Highlighted, and underlined, I read, "The true investor scarcely ever is forced to sell his shares, and at all other times he is free to disregard the current price quotation. He need pay attention to it and act upon it only to the extent that it suits his book, and no more. Thus the investor who permits himself to be stampeded or unduly worried by unjustified market declines in his holdings is perversely transforming his basic advantage into a basic disadvantage. That man would be better off if his stocks had no market quotation at all, for he would then be spared the mental anguish caused him by other persons' mistakes of judgment."

That simple truth could save millions of people their life savings when they panic during bear markets. I suppose it's like the prescription for weight loss - "eat less and exercise". Sometimes, we tend to make things too hard.