Never forget this simple truism: Forecasting is marketing, plain and simple.

You can blow on the dice all you want, but whether they come up seven is still a function of random luck.

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.

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.

'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?'

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

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