Top 15 William J. Bernstein Quotes

American neurologist & financial writer (1948-)

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William J. Bernstein (born 1948) is an American financial theorist. He is known for his research in the field of modern portfolio theory and for his finance books for individual investors who wish to manage their own equity portfolios. He lives in Portland, Oregon.

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Alternative Names: William Bernstein • Bill Bernstein

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Investing is not a destination. It is an ongoing journey through its four continents - theory, history, psychology and business.

Ninety-nine percent of what you read about investing in magazines and newspapers, and 100% of what you hear on television is worse than useless.

Investment planning and execution are two completely different animals.

If markets were truly efficient, then you shouldn't be able to make any money rebalancing.

It is often said that a monkey could run an index fund. Nothing could be further fro the truth. Precisely tracking an index requires a very high degree of market savvy, discipline and nerve.

Journalism attracts people with exceptional linguistic talent, but I have found that very few have the mathematical sophistication to appreciate the difference between skill and luck.

Wealthy investors should realize that they are the cash cows of the investment industry, and that most of the exclusive investment vehicles available to them - separate accounts, hedge funds, limited partnerships, and the like - are designed to bleed them with commissions, transactional costs, and other fees.

The wealthy are different than you and I: they have many more ways of having their wealth stripped away.

Human beings are not very good at taking losses or admitting failure.

The advent of modern communication technology has simply facilitated the rapid dissemination of increasingly trivial information.

We tend to think of technological progress as an ever accelerating affair, but it just isn't so.

It is one thing to coolly design a portfolio strategy on a sheet of paper or computer monitor, and quite another to actually deploy it.

In other words, since you cannot successfully time the market or select individual stocks, asset allocation should be the major focus of your investment strategy, because it is the only factor affecting your investment risk that you can control.

when a famous investor publishes a newsletter, it's a sure tip-off that his techniques have stopped working.

In fact, the nation's biggest investment pools are the retirement funds of the large corporations and governmental bodies, such as the California Public Employees Retirement System (CALPERS), which manages an astounding $170 billion. These plans receive a level of professional management that even the nations wealthiest investors can only dream of.