Value investing is at its core the marriage of a contrarian streak and a calculator.

The trick of successful investors is to sell when they want to, not when they have to.

When a stock is selling at a discount to liquidation value per share, a near rock-bottom appraisal, it is frequently an attractive investment.

There is an old saying, "How did you go bankrupt?" And the answer is, "Gradually, and then suddenly." The impending fiscal crisis in the United States will make its appearance in the same way.

We work really hard never to get confused with what we know from what we think or hope or wish.

Most investors are primarily oriented toward return, how much they can make and pay little attention to risk, how much they can lose.

Financial innovation can be highly dangerous, though almost no one will tell you this. New financial products are typically created for sunny days and are almost never stress-tested for stormy weather. Securitization is an area that almost perfectly fits this description; markets for securitized assets such as subprime mortgages completely collapsed in 2008 and have not fully recovered. Ironically, the government is eager to restore the securitization markets back to their pre-collapse stature.