Investing is a game of probabilities. Big winners win the game by not losing(much).
Margin of safety (or room for error) is the most important concept in stock market investing. You should invest if the upside potential easily outweighs the downside risk. “Heads, I win. Tails, I don’t lose much.”
The key to making intelligent investment decisions is always to begin by asking, “how much can I lose?” Considering the downside is the single most important thing an investor must do.
Accident avoidance matters because it’s so hard to recover from disaster. The future is so ‘intrinsically uncertain’ that investors should focus heavily on avoiding permanent losses and building a portfolio that can endure various states of the world.
The path to wisdom involves “subtracting” all unnecessary activities: “to attain knowledge, add things every day. To attain wisdom, subtract things every day”.
Great read on judgment criteria and decision-making process of some of the world’s top investors with tens of billions under management. It shows how independent thinking, patience, and contrarian decision-making result in massive capital returns. Stock market is a zero-sum game after all. Some need to lose in order for others to win.
Words of wisdom from people who spent arguably half of their lives seeking wisdom by reading thousands of books and applying the best of it.