The purpose of this book is to supply, in the form suitable for laymen, guidance in the adoption and execution of an investment policy.

Before you invest, you must ensure that you have realistically assessed your probability of being right and how you will react to the consequences of being wrong.

Speculative stock movements are carried too far in both directions, frequently in the general market and at all times in at least some of the individual issues.

The ideal form of common stock analysis leads to a valuation of the issue which can be compared with the current price to determine whether or not the security is an attractive purchase.

Mr. Market does not always price stocks the way an appraiser or a private buyer would value a business. Instead, when stocks are going up, he happily pays more than their objective value; and, when they are going down, he is desperate to dump them for less than their true worth.

The intelligent investor is likely to need considerable will power to keep from following the crowd.

Never buy a stock immediately after a substantial rise or sell one immediately after a substantial drop.