12 Quotes to Make You a Better Investor

Peter Lynch managed the Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990, during which he achieved a 29.2% compound annual growth rate.
Starting with $20 million, by the time he left, the fund had grown to $14 billion.
These 12 quotes will help you become a better investor.
1. “The money investors lose while preparing for or trying to predict market corrections is far greater than the money lost during the correction itself.”
Focus on what you know and can control.
2. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.”
Never borrow someone else’s conviction. Do your own research and build your own assumptions.
3. “An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lotteries.”
Think of stocks as businesses, not screen codes.
4. “Just because you buy a stock and it goes up doesn’t mean you’re right. Just because you buy a stock and it goes down doesn’t mean you’re wrong.”
In the short term, the market is a voting machine.
5. “There’s always something to worry about. Avoid weekend anxiety, ignore the latest scary forecasts from news anchors. Selling a stock should be because the company’s fundamentals have deteriorated, not because the sky is falling.”
Signal > Noise.
6. “You need your big winners to offset your mistakes. In this industry, if you’re excellent, you can only be right six out of ten times. You’ll never be right nine out of ten times.”
You don’t need to be correct on every investment, but maintain a steady average.
7. “Some stocks rise 20-30%, and they sell them, yet they cling to junk stocks. It’s like watering weeds and pruning flowers. Let your winning stocks keep running.”
Let your profitable stocks make up for your losses. Don’t sell winners to buy more losers.
8. “Stocks are a safe bet, but only if you hold long enough to weather market corrections. When you sell in despair, you always sell too cheaply.”
Time in the market > Market timing.
9. “Never invest in a company without understanding its financials. The biggest losses in stocks come from companies with poor balance sheets.”
Revenue is important, but cash is the lifeblood of a business.
10. “I don’t know anyone who, at the end of life, says, ‘Gee, I wish I had spent more time in the office.’”
Investing is to give you more free time in your later years. While building your future, remember to enjoy the present.
11. “You can’t see the future through the rearview mirror.”
The market is a forward-looking machine. Don’t spend too much time looking back. Spend more time discovering tomorrow’s winners.
12. “The typical big winners in Lynch’s portfolio often take three to ten years to show results.”
Investors need patience to see the long-term benefits of holding. They are not linear.