You have to understand what market history looks like. What market history tells you is that the very, very best investments are made when things look the worst. — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
“Although the Romans knew Chinese silk, they knew not China. They believed that silk grew directly on the mulberry tree, not realizing that the… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
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… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
The key thing about any fund is to make sure its expenses are low. You know, if you look at the funds in your… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
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… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
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… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
Wall Street is littered with the bones of those who knew just what to do, but could not bring themselves to do it. — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
The key aspect of an index fund is that many of them, not all of them, but many of them are extremely cheap. — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
If your broker or investment advisor is not familiar with the concept of standard deviation of returns, get a new one. — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
While it is probably a poor idea to own actively managed funds in general, it is truly a terrible idea to own them in taxable accounts... taxes are a drag on performance of up to 4 percentage points each year... many index funds allow your capital gains to grow largely undisturbed until you sell... For the taxable investor, indexing means… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share
It's bad enough that you have to take market risk. Only a fool takes on the additional risk of doing yet more damage by… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
You have to ask yourself, what are the things that matter to you most in your life? If you have to have a latte… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
The definition of investment is the deferring ofpresent consumption for future consumption. So, you dohave to be willing to defer. And there are a… — William J. Bernstein Copy Share Image
