This ugly duckling investment will likely need time - quarters, or even years - to blossom into a beautiful swan.

Rather than engage in the sort of selective retention that so many investors tend to do and pretend mistakes never happened, I prefer to own them. This allows me to learn from them and, with any luck, avoid making the same errors again.

Returnless risk is not how you prepare for a decent retirement.

'Excessive regulation in the banking reform bill will destroy a substantial part of our bond-distributing machinery. Can anyone expect that a step of this kind will improve the quality of our long-term investments?'

History is replete with examples of tech firms that were marginalized by new companies and technologies.

The market is going to love it. The market always seems to applaud major mergers, even though the vast majority of them don't work out and don't increase shareholder value.

One thing I detest most about the financial press is the lack of accountability. All sorts of nonsense is said without penalty.