{"id":25296,"date":"2011-11-18T09:00:39","date_gmt":"2011-11-18T14:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/countingpips.com\/fx\/2011\/11\/18\/three-investment-lessons-i%e2%80%99ve-learned-from-warren-buffett\/"},"modified":"2011-11-18T09:00:39","modified_gmt":"2011-11-18T14:00:39","slug":"three-investment-lessons-ive-learned-from-warren-buffett","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.investmacro.com\/fx\/2011\/11\/18\/three-investment-lessons-ive-learned-from-warren-buffett\/","title":{"rendered":"Three Investment Lessons I\u2019ve Learned From Warren Buffett"},"content":{"rendered":"

Three Investment Lessons I’ve Learned From Warren Buffett<\/a><\/p>\n

by Dr. Mark Skousen<\/a>, Investment U<\/em> Contributing Editor
\nFriday, November 18, 2011: Issue #1646<\/p>\n

“Great little book. I plan to shamelessly steal some of the lines.” <\/em><\/p>\n

– Warren Buffett<\/p>\n

For the past 30 years, I’ve been collecting old adages, clever lines and poems about Wall Street, which I’ve now published in a new book called The Maxims of Wall Street<\/em>. Old canards like, “Sell in May and go away,” and, “Bears make headlines, bulls make money.”<\/p>\n

It’s a unique book – surprisingly, nobody in the two hundred years of Wall Street had collected all the financial sayings in one book.<\/p>\n

After completing the compilation, I made a discovery: Of the dozens of financial gurus quoted, I ended up cited Warren Buffett the most – 27 times to be exact. More than J. P. Morgan, John Templeton, Ben Franklin, Jim Dines, Jesse Livermore, John Maynard Keynes, Gerald Loeb, Humphrey Neill and a host of others.<\/p>\n

Now that I think about it, that makes perfect sense. Warren Buffett<\/a> is, after all, the world’s wealthiest investor, and a shareholder investing $1,000 in his Berkshire Hathaway at the beginning would be a multi-millionaire today. He has a lot to teach us about how to be a successful investor, and what not to do.<\/p>\n

I decided to send a copy to Mr. Buffett. I had met Mr. Buffett last year at the graduation ceremony for Sing Sing inmates who had earned a college degree (my wife and I teach at this incredibly successful program).<\/p>\n

Still, I was surprised to get a personal email from him a few days later on 11-11-11 with an unqualified endorsement of the book. He has given permission to publish this letter:<\/p>\n

Dear Mark, <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I’m really going to enjoy the little book you sent me. In fact, I plan to shamelessly steal some of the lines. Thanks for thinking of me.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Warren Buffett<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Since then, we’ve continued to correspond. What can you learn about investing<\/a> reading these 27 quotations?<\/p>\n

The Three Lessons<\/strong><\/p>\n

First<\/em>, Buffett says you have to be a contrarian to be successful. A few of his favorite quotes:<\/p>\n