Ross Douthat Quotes

Just because one happens to be wealthy, it doesn't mean you are naturally any good at building an investment operation that is world-class or successful.

The starting point of my career in money management in 1973-74 was the time of the only true bear market any living non-Japanese investor has seen in major markets. Equities, real estate, you name it, everyone got run over.

Investors have to ask themselves two questions. How much can we grow our investments? And, can we afford our mistakes?

A financial crisis is a great time for professional investors and a horrible time for average ones.

I have a million dollars in the stock market, because if I lose a million dollars, I don't personally care.

You have a class of investors and you have a class of speculators. The speculators historically haven't been big enough to cause the investors to doubt the long-term vision of stock.

Investing is about making probabilistic decisions with limited information about an unknowable future. The variables are well known, as are the possible outcomes.

Investors have few spare tires left. Think of the image of a car on a bumpy road to an uncertain destination that has already used up its spare tire. The cash reserves of people have been eaten up by the recent market volatility.

I don't want to be one of those guys that you see who made $4 million, invested $3.5 million, and now you work at Wendy's.

All too often, the pitchmen are selling the notion that if you gain 'control' over your financial destiny - pick your own stocks and execute your own trades - it will be the first step on a short road to riches.

There are two times in a man's life when he should not speculate [on the Stock Market]: when he can't afford it, and when he can.

I used to not talk much to anyone about my investments.

There's so much disagreement about investing, and it's because nobody really knows.

I have no fear about the future for retail investors.

I don't like to discuss my investments.

If the fluctuations in your investment portfolio are reduced, the impact of emotions and behavior on your account is also reduced.

Thousands of people have tried, and the evidence is clear: The more you trade, the less you keep.

Too many people say to their brokers, I can't deal with this. Take my money. Do what you want. That's the worst attitude you can have.

If your investing approach requires that you become Nostradamus to succeed, then you are destined to fail.

In the world of money and investing, you must learn to control your emotions.

Every portfolio benefits from bonds; they provide a cushion when the stock market hits a rough patch. But avoiding stocks completely could mean your investment won't grow any faster than the rate of inflation.

Mutual funds give people the sense that they're investing with the big boys and that they're really not at a disadvantage entering the stock market.

What I'm trying to say is that for the average investor, what I would encourage them to do is to understand that there's inflation and growth. It can go higher and lower and to have four different portfolios essentially that make up your entire portfolio that gets you balanced.

I don't invest in the stock market. I did it a long, long time ago when I was really young, and I got involved in all the investigations and all the prosecutions, and I felt it was better if I didn't make individual investments. So I'm invested in funds, but not in individual - not in individual stocks.

I could never gamble on stocks and shares because I saw my father get hurt that way - he lost quite a lot of money when the stock market collapsed in 2001.