I would always advise young people to follow their star - not my star. They have to live their own life. If they decide they want to go into the investment business, do it, but make it a better business than it is today.
John C. BogleRead
We make too much out of past performance, and it's very misleading to investors. It causes them to move money around. They buy a fund that's hot and then it turns cold as all hot funds eventually do. And then they get out. Well, buying at the high and selling at the low isn't going to leave you a satisfied shareholder, right?
Interpretation
What this quote means
Past performance may mislead investors, leading to poor investment decisions.
John C. Bogle emphasizes the dangers of overvaluing past performance in investments. He argues that investors often make hasty decisions based on the recent success of a fund, only to find that the market fluctuates and their returns suffer as they buy high and sell low. This cycle ultimately leaves them dissatisfied with their investments.
Themes
InvestmentPerformanceMarketDecisionsSatisfaction
In practice
Example use cases
In a financial seminar, quoting Bogle can illustrate the importance of long-term investment strategies.
More from John C. Bogle
All quotes →When our financial system - essentially our money managers, marketers of investment products and stockbrokers - put up zero percent of the capital and assume zero percent of the risk yet receive fully 80% of the return, something has gone terribly wrong in our financial system.
John C. BogleRead
Entrepreneurs or international conglomerateurs, or large financial institutions buy or create mutual fund management companies to create a return on their own capital. It's capitalism at work, where the rewards tend to go to the managers rather than the investors.
John C. BogleRead
Net return is simply the gross return of your investment portfolio less the costs you incur. Keep your investment expenses low, for the tyranny of compounding costs can devastate the miracle of compounding returns.
John C. BogleRead
Investing is a virtuous habit best started as early as possible.
John C. BogleRead
Wise investors won't try to outsmart the market.
John C. BogleRead
Similar quotes
The math you need for most of finance is ninth-grade algebra, and most people feel reasonably comfortable with that. But I think the financial world there has been - I don't know if it's by design, or this is how it's evolved - there are bad actors who have wanted to obfuscate because you can benefit from the lack of transparency.
Sal KhanRead
A mortgage casts a shadow on the sunniest field.
Robert Green IngersollRead
We believe that according the name 'investors' to institutions that trade actively is like calling someone who repeatedly engages in one-night stands a 'romantic.'
Warren BuffettRead
While enthusiasm may be necessary for great accomplishments elsewhere, on Wall Street it almost invariably leads to disaster
Benjamin GrahamRead
The very nature of finance is that it cannot be profitable unless it is significantly leveraged... and as long as there is debt, there can be failure and contagion.
Alan GreenspanRead
Nobody can predict interest rates, the future direction of the economy or the stock market. Dismiss all such forecasts and concentrate on what's actually happening to the companies in which you've invested
Peter LynchRead