The Intelligent Investor

Belangrijkste inzichten

• Investing means analysis, safety of principal and a fair return; everything else is speculation
• Mr. Market's daily prices reflect his mood, not the value of the business you own
• Always demand a margin of safety: pay well below your estimate of what a company is worth
• Choose to be a defensive or an enterprising investor and play that role fully
• Your worst enemy is likely to be yourself, so decide your rules before emotions strike

In deze bit

1. Temperament beats forecasting

   Benjamin Graham was Warren Buffett's teacher, and this book is the reason. Written just after the Second World War and revised through the early 1970s, it argues that success in the stock market has little to do with forecasting and everything to do with temperament.

2. Meet Mr. Market

   Graham asks you to imagine owning a share of a private business with a partner named Mr. Market.

3. Margin of safety

   The three words Graham says sum up sound investing are margin of safety. Every estimate of a company's worth is uncertain, so you should only buy when the price sits well below your estimate, leaving room for error, bad luck and things you did not foresee.

4. Defensive or enterprising

   Graham splits investors into two kinds, based not on wealth but on how much time and care they will honestly commit. The defensive investor wants freedom from effort and worry.

5. The enemy is in the mirror

   Graham's most repeated point is that the investor's chief problem, and worst enemy, is likely to be the investor. Markets swing between over-optimism and over-pessimism, and the temptation is to join each swing just as it peaks.

6. Put it to work

   Start by writing one sentence that explains, in business terms, why you own each stock or fund you hold; if you cannot, that is a speculation you are carrying. Decide your equity band, perhaps 50 to 70% of your long-term money, and rebalance to it once a year rather than reacting to news.