The average person canโt really trust anybody. They canโt trust a broker, because the broker is interested in churning commissions. They canโt trust a mutual fund, because the mutual fund is interested in gathering a lot of assets and keeping them. And now itโs even worse because even the most sophisticated people have no idea whatโs going on.
Seth KlarmanValue investors will not invest in businesses that they cannot readily understand or ones they find excessively risky. Hence few value investors will own the shares of technology companies. Many also shun commercial banks, which they consider to have unanalyzable assets, as well as property and casualty insurance companies, which have both unanalyzable assets and liabilities.
Seth KlarmanSuccessful investors like stocks better when theyโre going down. When you go to a department store or a supermarket, you like to buy merchandise on sale, but it doesnโt work that way in the stock market. In the stock market, people panic when stocks are going down, so they like them less when they should like them more. When prices go down, you shouldnโt panic, but itโs hard to control your emotions when youโre overextended, when you see your net worth drop in half and you worry that you wonโt have enough money to pay for your kidsโ college.
Seth Klarman