There are two kinds of investors, be thay large or small: those who don't know where the market is headed, and those who don't know that they don't know.

There are two kinds of investors, be thay large or small: those who don't know where the market is headed, and those who don't know that they don't know.

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.

It's human nature to find patterns where there are none and to find skill where luck is a more likely explanation (particularly if you're the lucky manager).

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

An index fund is a fund that simply invests in all of the stocks in a market. So, for example, an index fund might invest in every single stock or almost every single stock in the U.S. market, it might invest in every single stock abroad, or it might invest in all of the bonds that are out there. And you can make a perfectly fine investing portfolio that mixes equal parts of all three of those.

The key aspect of an index fund is that many of them, not all of them, but many of them are extremely cheap.