Quote for the Week
We all know that if we follow the speculative crowd we are going to lose money in the long run. Yet, somehow or other, we find ourselves very often doing just that. It is extraordinary how frequently security analysts and the crowd are doing the same thing. In fact, I must say I can’t remember any case in which they weren’t.
It reminds me of the story you all know of the oil man who went to Heaven and asked St. Peter to let him in. St. Peter said, “Sorry, the oil men’s area here is all filled up, as you can see by looking through the gate.” The man said, “That’s too bad, but do you mind if I just say four words to them?” And St. Peter said, “Sure.” So the man shouts good and loud, “Oil discovered in hell!” Whereupon all the oil men begin trooping out of Heaven and making a beeline for the nether regions. Then St. Peter said, “That was an awfully good stunt. Now there’s plenty of room, come right in.” The oil man scratches his head and says, “I think I’ll go with the rest of the boys. There may be some truth in that rumor after all.”
I think that is the way we behave, very often, in the movements of the stock market. We know from experience that we are going to end up badly, but somehow “there may be some truth in the rumor,” so we go along with the boys. — Ben Graham (source)
From the Archives
Last Call
- The Laws of Financial Health – Uncertainty of It All
- Be the Barry Sanders of Investing – Jake’s Substack
- 20 Rules for Markets and Investing – C. Bilello
- Everything Costs – S. Godin
- The Gambler’s (non-) Fallacy – The Leap
- Factor Premiums: An Eternal Feature of Financial Markets – Enterprising Investor
- The Illusion of Acceleration – Reaction Wheel
- The Online “Funhouse Mirror” Distorting Everyone’s Reality – Sherwood
- The 2024 Living Planet Index Reports a 73% Average Decline in Wildlife Populations – Our World in Data
- These 6 Ancient Puzzles Entertained Our Ancestors with Riddles and Numbers – Discover