Individuals vary in their propensity to socialize. For some, contact with people is a painful necessity. At the other extreme, there are people who cannot live by themselves and are willing to spend time with people they don’t like rather than be alone. Between the two extremes, there are many variations, but the greatest majority … Read more
Law 2: The probability that a certain person be stupid is independent of any other characteristic of that person. Carlo Cipolla, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity Stupid people are everywhere. Cipolla believes that stupidity exists indiscriminately across all human groups and is uniformly distributed in equal proportion. There is an equal proportion of stupid … Read more
Law 1: Always and inevitably everyone underestimates the number of stupid individuals in circulation. Carlo Cipolla, The Basic Laws of Human Stupidity This may seem like an uncharitable exaggeration, but one is repeatedly surprised by how individuals that you once considered intelligent turn out to be unashamedly stupid. And one is also surprised to see … Read more
Man, by nature, is an imitation machine. Those who think originally are rare, but it is their ideas that transfigure society. Thinkers that belong to this category are Aristotle, Descartes, Hume, Kant, Nietzsche, Derrida, Freud, Jung, Girard. Aristotle taught that a first principle was “first basis by which a thing was known.” Descartes’ cogito ergo … Read more
The Book On The Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are is a book about the latest societal taboo. Sexuality and religion were the previous taboos. The biggest danger today is self-knowledge – a state of wonder at who we are and where we came from. Watts admits that there are subversive secrets in the Bible … Read more
The rascal/philosopher Alan Watts gained notoriety for popularizing Eastern ideas in the Western world. He thought of himself as an entertainer, but do not mistake levity with insincerity. Watts describes is the difference between the East and the West in their identifications with the Passive and the Active. This is similar to the dichotomy of … Read more
Most investors are novices and make many mistakes. Drawdowns, high fees and expense ratios, and improper diversification are all common problems they face. Advisors should be hired only if they are proficient and conservative. A lot of bad advice is given for free. Investors should expect to pay a fee, but the advisor should never … Read more
Investment funds are vehicles provide a convenient means for saving and investment, and potentially protecting investors from themselves. But the investor should expect no more than average results. But beware of high fees, excessive trading, and erratic fluctuations in performance. Be wary of outperformance, it may indicate speculative behavior on the portfolio. The defensive investor … Read more
Mr. Market is the analogy given for the market. Imagine that you co-owned a company with Mr. Market, a man who, each day whether he is a good mood or in a bad mood, will buy or sell his shares in the company. The analogy is to make the point that irrational investment is a … Read more
An enterprising investor wants to achieve a higher than average rate of return. There are 4 ways in which this type of investor can go beyond the defensive investor. . Buying in low priced markets and selling in high priced markets, buying growth stocks, buying bargain issues, and buying “special situations”. The enterprising investor can … Read more