Denton County Living Well Magazine July/August 2017 | Page 30

The Intelligent Investor
“Learn every day, but especially from the experiences of others. It’s cheaper!” — John C. Bogle
What Experts Say About “Staying The Course”
Frank Armstrong, advisor and author of The Informed Investor: “Endless tinkering is unlikely to improve perfor-
mance, and chasing last period’s stellar achiever is a losing strategy.”
Barber Odean Study: “Of 66,465 households with accounts at a large discount broker during 1991 to 1996, those
that trade most earn an annual return of 11.4 percent, while the market returns 17.9 percent. Our central message is
that trading is hazardous to your health.”
William Bernstein, author of Four Pillars of Investing: If you become upset when one of your asset classes does
poorly, even when the rest of your portfolio is doing well, then you should not be managing your own money.”
Jack Bogle: “Stay the Course. No matter what happens, stick to your program. I’ve said “Stay the course” a thousand
times, and I meant it every time. It is the most important single piece of investment wisdom I can give to you.”
Bogleheads Guide to Investing: “Wall Street can’t stand buy-and-hold strategies because brokers need trading activ-
ity to make money.”
Jack Brennan, former Vanguard CEO: “If you’re determined to succeed at investing, make it your first priority to
become a buy-and-hold investor.”
Warren Buffett: “Inactivity strikes us as intelligent behavior.”
“Andrew Clarke, author of Wealth of Experience: “Setting a goal, developing an appropriate asset allocation, and
selecting a handful of funds are not hugely complex tasks. The hard part comes next: Battling your emotions so that
you can stick with your plan through thick and thin.”
Jonathan Clements, author and Wall Street Journal columnist: “Take my word on it. Buy-and-hold is still your best
long-run strategy.”
Phil DeMuth, adviser and co-author of seven investment books: “The investor says to his adviser: ‘Every year you
tell me to do nothing. What do I need you for?’ The adviser replied: ‘Every year you need me to keep your from doing
anything.’ ”
Paul Farrell, author of Lazy Persons Guide to Investing: “In a study of 66,400 Merrill Lynch investors, professors
Odean and Barber discovered that buy-and-hold investors beat the more active investors by a fairly sizable margin:
18.5% to 11.4% over a six-year period.”
Rick Ferri, advisor and financial author: “Write down your strategy -- and stay-the-course.”
Steve Forbes: “Everyone is a long-term investor until the market goes down.”
Alan Greenspan, former Chairman of the Federal Reserve: “The best strategy for equity investor has always been
buy and hold, and forget it.”
Mark Hebner, author of “Index Funds”: “Prices change to reflect news which is both random and unpredictable. Stock
picking and market timing don’t work. Stay the course in a risk-appropriate index portfolio and invest and relax.”
Morgan Housel, financial columnist: “Do nothing” are the two most powerful -- and underused -- words in investing. The urge to
act has transferred an inconceivable amount of wealth from investors to brokers.”
Michael LeBoeuf, author of The Millionaire in You: “Simple buy-and-hold index investing is one of the best, most ef-
ficient ways to grow your money to the ultimate goal of financial freedom.”
Jessie Livermore, famous stock trader: “The big money is not in the buying or the selling, but in the sitting.”
Burton Malkiel, author of Random Walk Down Wall Street: “Buying-and-holding a broad-based market index fund is
still the only game in town.”