The prevailing view has been that the market will earn a high rate of return if the holding period is long enough, but entry point is what really matters.

Below, we itemize some of the quite different lessons investors seem to have learned as of late 2009 - false lessons, we believe. To not only learn but also effectively implement investment lessons requires a disciplined, often contrary, and long-term-oriented investment approach. It requires a resolute focus on risk aversion rather than maximizing immediate returns, as well as an understanding of history, a sense of financial market cycles, and, at times, extraordinary patience.

A value strategy is of little use to the impatient investor since it usually takes time to pay off.

In a rising market, everyone makes money and a value philosophy is unnecessary. But because there is no certain way to predict what the market will do, one must follow a value philosophy at all times.

People should be highly sceptical of anyone's including their own, ability to predict the future, and instead pursue strategies that can survive whatever may occur.

All investors must come to terms with the relentless continuity of the investment process.

It's incredibly important to note that when you don't allow failure, you get more failure.