A decade ago, I really did believe that the average investor could do it himself. I was wrong. I've come to the sad conclusion that only a tiny minority, at most one percent, are capable of pulling it off. Heck, if Helen Young Hayes, Robert Sanborn, Julian Robertson, and the nation's largest pension funds can't get it right, what chance does John Q. Investor have?

There are two kinds of investors, be they large or small: those who don't know where the market is headed and those who don't know what they don't know. Then again, there is a third type of investor: the investment professional, who indeed knows he doesn't know, but whose livelihood depends upon appearing to know.

The essence of effective portfolio construction is the use of a large number of poorly correlated assets.

The deeper one delves, the worse things look for actively managed funds.

Investment success accrues not so much to the brilliant as to the disciplined.

The reason that 'guru' is such a popular word is because 'charlatan' is so hard to spell.

Market risk is like taking a plunge into a cool pool ... a lot of people are finding out right now what their risk tolerance is.