The Third Pig

With the Thanksgiving holiday coming up and people somewhat depressed about the market and the economy, I tried to find some things to be thankful for in a tough environment like this. I thought I’d list a few, at least five, leading up to the holiday. The following is #1:

1.     The Teachings of Benjamin Graham:

Benjamin Graham is perhaps best known today from frequent references made to him by billionaire investor Warren Buffett. Besides giving us Security Analysis in 1934 and his 1949 classic, The Intelligent Investor, he gave us short but meaningful quips about keeping our collective heads as investors in any market, let alone a bear market where we have seen a 52% drop. Some of my favorites are: 

“Confronted with a challenge to distill the secret of sound investment into three words, we venture the motto, Margin of Safety.”

“Price fluctuations have only one significant meaning for the true investor. They provide him with an opportunity to buy wisely when prices fall sharply and to sell wisely when they advance a great deal. At other times he will do better if he forgets about the stock market and pays attention to…the operating results of his companies.”

“…in the short run, the market is a voting machine but in the long run it is a weighing machine.”