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.
Samuel Langhorne Clemens, 1835-1910
I have only ever borrowed money for investment. I have been sound money all my life.
To have a true investment, there must be a true margin of safety. And a true margin of safety is one that can be demonstrated by figures, by persuasive reasoning, and by reference to a body of actual experience.
There is a time to make money and a time to not lose money.
Sometimes your best investments are the ones you don't make.
It's better to do nothing with your money than something you don't understand.
You could have all the money in the world, but you have to be smart enough knowing how to spend it. I really try to be on that smart money side. Once you make a serious mistake you can suffer five or six years, and I do my best to avoid serious mistakes.
When it comes to money, the best investments were probably the ones I did not make.
I am not the sort of person who will wake up and go and buy myself a Ferrari.
I'm smart with my money, I invest conservatively. I don't mind paying top-dollar, but I don't want to get ripped off.
You don't need to be an expert in order to achieve satisfactory investment returns. But if you aren't, you must recognize your limitations and follow a course certain to work reasonably well. Keep things simple and don't swing for the fences.
The financial calculus that Charlie and I employ would never permit our trading a good night's sleep for a shot at a few extra percentage points of return. I've never believed in risking what my friends and family have and need in order to pursue what they don't have and don't need.
To suppose that safety-first consists in having a small gamble in a large number of different companies where I have no information to reach a good judgment, as compared with a substantial stake in a company where one's information is adequate, strikes me as a travesty of investment policy.
As a matter of fact I trade in accordance to my means and always leave myself an ample margin of safety.
I never invest in anything that I don't understand.
Rule No.1: Never lose money. Rule No.2: Never forget rule No.1.
Look: invest in what you understand, what's foreseeably going to offer real value and returns, not necessarily what's trendy.
Confronted with a challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, Margin of Safety.
I'm a conservative businesswoman in a way because I try not to invest too much to the point that if things go bad, I'd lose a lot.
I've never put all my eggs in one basket, and I've always been cautious.
Anytime anybody offers you anything with a big commission and a 200-page prospectus, don't buy it. Occasionally, you'll be wrong if you adopt "Munger's Rule." However, over a lifetime, you'll be a long way ahead - and you will miss a lot of unhappy experiences.
