Harry Markowitz Quotes

The best argument for mutual funds is that they offer safety and diversification. But they don't necessarily offer safety and diversification.

I think it is crucial to diversify one's portfolio.

You could lose hundreds or thousands one day on paper and gain it all back the next, and it has literally no effect on your immediate future, provided the money you have in the market is money you're investing for the long haul (meaning at least three to five years).

Always keep your portfolio and your risk at your own individual comfortable sleeping point.

I'm not a money manager, but I can tell you what the conventional wisdom is. The younger you are, the more risk you can take on.

It is important for investors to understand what they do and don't know. Learn to recognize that you cannot possibly know what is going to happen in the future, and any investment plan that is dependent on accurately forecasting where markets will be next year is doomed to failure.

My advice to the average investor in 1988 is to be patient and think long-term. It will take 18 months for confidence to get better and, in the meantime, this is absolutely no place for short-term money.

The last thing you want to do, unless it's a very unusual situation, is to invest money.

The beauty of diversification is it's about as close as you can get to a free lunch in investing.

People want to make sure there is flexibility to reallocate assets. They are trusting us to make the asset allocation decisions.

Children should be taught in school that you should have all kinds of asset classes in your portfolio. They should be taught what those asset classes are, and their advantages and disadvantages.

I haven't changed any of my investments since I've been in the Senate and haven't purchased any stocks since I've been in the Senate.

Diversification has been, and balance, like Wellington, has been so drummed into me, it's part of my personality.

As in most subjects relating to money management, there's a wide diversity of opinion on portfolio concentration versus diversification.

Well, the most important thing in investing is to know what you're investing in, and if you're confident in the outcome, it's important to stay true to your position.

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.

We don't manage money for anyone else. We bear responsibility only for our own risks.

There's a tendency to look at investments in isolation. Investors focus on the risk of individual securities.

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

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.

The thing to do with mutual funds is to buy a couple of decent ones, set up an investment plan and then never, ever think about them again, except maybe once a quarter or so when you take a peek at your statements to make sure that you have not accidentally been buying the Fidelity Peace-in-the-Middle-East fund.

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.

Here is a dirty little secret: Stock-picking is wildly overrated. Sure, it makes for great cocktail party chatter, and what is more fun than delving into a company's new products? But the truth is that individual stocks are riskier than broad indices.

Well, I think the secret is if you have a lot of stocks, some will do mediocre, some will do okay, and if one of two of 'em go up big time, you produce a fabulous result. And I think that's the promise to some people.