Investment Maxims Are Not One-Size-Fits-All

Caveats to Conventional Investing Wisdoms

“Of course that's your contention. You're a first-year investor. You just got finished reading some deep value historian, Ben Graham probably, you’re gonna be convinced of net-nets until next month when you get to Warren Buffett, then you’re gonna be talking about how Graham’s ideas are antiquated and that you simply have to buy and hold quality, letting time arbitrage do its thing. That's gonna last until next year, you’re gonna be in here regurgitating Fisher and Lynch, talkin’ about, you know, the importance of placing more emphasis on qualitative analysis in your investment process. Shortly after that, you’ll discover Druckenmiller, parroting that we should never invest in the present and that buying decisions should be based on what you believe the environment or prospects will be like 18-24 months from today”

An investor’s formative years are not too dissimilar from the “bar scene” in Good Will Hunting. As infantile investors disembark from the dock and paddle into what feels li…