My Five Favorite Quotes About the Stock Market

Short and sweet, but filled with valuable information

As I sit here on a Sunday evening scrolling through LinkedIn drinking an expired beer, I started thinking of a conversation I had with a friend recently.

He asked me about a Roth IRA and if he should start investing in one. The answer is always “Yes.”

But it got me thinking how there is so much financial information out there. And sometimes, the information that is most impactful is the smallest in size. The old, “quality over quantity.”

With that in mind, here are a few short quotes about the stock market that have had an impact on me.

1. “Time in the market beats timing the market”

I wrote an entire article about this quote. It’s hands down the most impactful lesson to my investing. The most amazing thing I have going for me in investing, and life, that money can’t buy, is time.

I have decades in front of me, and I will use them to my advantage.

I keep two pieces of paper taped to the wall above my desk. One of which says “The Power of Slow Compounding.”

If you make a million dollars from investing in a few years, congrats. I’ll get there eventually, we all can, with time on our side.

2. “Markets take the stairs up and the elevator down”

*Cue April 2020*

In March / April of 2020, three years of gains were wiped out by two months of chaos.

Yes, the market rebounded and is at all-time highs. But when the market dropped 30% and lost the gains of the last three years, people were scared.

This serves as a reminder that profits take a while, but losses can come quickly. This again can apply to investing, or life. (All the similarities I personally draw between the two are amusing to me.)

3. “The stock market is a device to transfer money from the impatient to the patient.” — Warren Buffett

This quote has value, but can easily be argued against.

The more patient (aka allow for time) you are the greater your gains will be. In the long run, so many stocks have done well and made average people millionaires. How many stocks have done that in the short term? Not many.

Be patient with your money and you’ll be rewarded.

On the flip side, Warren Buffett is in his nineties and one of the richest persons alive. He could spend millions every day and still have billions left when he dies. So enjoy your money while you can — today, tomorrow, and in the future. Your money won’t do you much good in your grave.

4. “The investor’s chief problem — and his worst enemy — is likely to be himself. In the end, how your investments behave is much less important than how you behave.” — Benjamin Graham

AKA stay out of your own fucking way.

I learned this the hard way, but luckily I was young and didn’t have much money to lose.

We all think we're experts, when in reality we are our own worst enemy.

I’ve found it much easier to invest in companies I believe in and then do nothing compared to trying to outsmart the market. The wheel’s already been invented — no need to do anything crazy to it. The blueprints to get rich from investing are already laid out. And they are simple — if you have the discipline to follow them.

5. “You make most of your money in a bear market, you just don’t realize it at the time.” — Shelby Cullom Davis

When others are selling, you should be buying (most of the time.)

This quote serves two purposes: to explain you shouldn’t panic sell when prices are low and that low prices can be a great opportunity to buy-in.

Anyone can make money in a bull market like we’ve had the past year. How well can you perform when things aren't as easy?

Enjoy the rest of your Sunday and shout out to Terry McLaurin for saving me in my work fantasy football league.