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

No one in his right mind would walk into the cockpit of an airplane and try to fly it, or into an operating theater and open a belly. And yet they think nothing of managing their retirement assets. I've done all three, and I'm here to tell you that managing money is, in its most critical elements even more demanding than the first two.

The typical fund company services 401k plan participants in the same way that Baby Face Nelson serviced banks.

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.

When it comes to fund managers and market strategists, this year's hero usually turns into next year's zero.

Wall Street is littered with the bones of those who knew just what to do, but could not bring themselves to do it.

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