Top Investment Quotes to Live By (2)

One of the things you will learn in investing and life, in general, is that nothing is new under the sun. History typically repeats itself.

Quotes are concise expressions made by credible individuals that give perspectives into various situations or areas. Quotes provide insights, share industry secrets, and offer lessons in short forms. In our last post, we reviewed some of the top investment quotes and the strategies or lessons found within them.

The following are some more quotes with even more insights into how you can win in the game of investing and leverage opportunities for success.

“The four most dangerous words in investing: ‘this time it’s different.’” - Sir John Templeton

One of the things you will learn in investing and life, in general, is that nothing is new under the sun. History typically repeats itself. This is even how theories, strategies, and principles are formed based on the observation of repetitive actions.

In the game of investing, you will also learn that even when situations seem different, certain things like human behavior and market reactions do not change. “This time it’s different” is, as such, one of the most dangerous phrases of all time as it most likely would not be different.

“There seems to be an unwritten rule on Wall Street: If you don’t understand it, then put your life savings into it.” - Peter Lynch

This quote by Peter Lynch is similar to another more straightforward one by Warren Buffet, “Never invest in a business you cannot understand.” A lot of times, many people believe that the more complex an investment opportunity is, the better it will perform.

Most of those times, they are dead wrong! One of Warren Buffet’s key pieces of advice is that investors remained within their circle of competence and the idea is to invest in what you know and what you understand. Anything beyond that is tantamount to gambling – it almost always never works.

“It’s far better to buy a wonderful company at a fair price, than a fair company at a wonderful price.” – Warren Buffet

Good value investors look for good value for good companies but opportunistic traders look for amazing opportunities. Many want to get terribly discounted prices so they can end up amassing great gains; however, many of these people end up opting for poor companies without strong growth potential.

Your priority as an investor is to invest in good companies (at fair prices) and not to find deals. Deals will often times leave you with substandard picks. The long term effect is never worth it.

“If stock market experts were so expert, they would be buying stock, not selling advice.” – Norman Ralph Augustine

There is an unspoken idea that some individuals are experts who will give the best investment directions. This quote by Norman Ralph Augustine puts the idea of “expert investors” to perspective.

While there are indeed people who have garnered experience over time more than others, their tips should not do more than provide guidelines. Nobody can guarantee your success in investing.

"The person who starts simply with the idea of getting rich won't succeed; you must have a larger ambition." - John D. Rockefeller

If your goal is just to make money from investing, chances are that you might make some poor decisions. This same tip goes beyond investing to even how we approach our businesses.

There must be a greater want like creating value, building sustainable inter-generational wealth and so on. With investing, map out your goals and make them bigger than just making more money for yourself. Big goals spur big actions.

“Individuals who cannot master their emotions are ill-suited to profit from the investment process.” – Benjamin Graham

Emotional investing is one of the biggest mistakes investors make! Emotions like fear, worry, sentiment, greed and so on, have made people the most irrational and led them to make some of the worst investment decisions ever. Think smart and as much as possible, try to disconnect your emotions from what happens in the stock market.

“The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it.” – Andrew Carnegie

Finally, this quote by Andrew Carnegie explains the need to create an investment objective and stick to it. Changing your goal periodically will leave you constantly changing strategies and not achieving the focus required to get anywhere. Quit switching; make an investment objective and toe the line until you achieve it.

Written by Lawretta Egba.