Fail-Safe Investing (1999) (edit title/settings)

Ridiculously Simplified Synopsis edit

Write a ridiculously simplified synopsis.

Quotes edit see section history

• “The sad fact is that most part-time investors who try to beat the markets lose part or all of the savings they've worked so hard to accumulate. Some of them wind up using their working income to cover investment losses--and maybe even working overtime to do so.”

  Author

• “Investors often get into trouble by speculating when they think they're investing. If you don't understand the difference between the two, you can put yourself in a dangerous situation.”

  Author

• “You won't have to look very far to find someone who claims to have a foolproof way to know which way the markets are moving. The investment world is overpopulated with seers who claim to have amazing forecasting records. But you'll find that the advisor with a perfect forecasting record up to now will lose his touch the moment you start acting on his advice.”

  Author

• Popular Highlights from Kindle Customers

• You don't need a money manager. Investing is complicated and difficult only if you're trying to speculate and beat the market. To keep what you have requires only a simple understanding of the basics of investing.

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• Stocks take advantage of prosperity.

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• The easiest and most effective way to do this is to split the 25% stock-market portion among three mutual funds.

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• The cash portion should be kept in a money market fund investing only in short-term U.S. Treasury securities, so that you don't have to evaluate credit risk. These securities are safer than bank accounts and other debt instruments.

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• The beginning of investment wisdom is to accept that we live in an uncertain world, and that we can never have enough information to know for certain why the market went up or down today—let alone what it's going to do tomorrow. We know only a little about the present—and much less about the future.

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• As with the rest of your life, safety doesn't come from trying to peer into the future to eliminate uncertainty. Safety comes from devising realistic ways to deal with uncertainty.

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• For the bond portion, you don't want to have to monitor credit risk, so buy only U.S. Treasury bonds.

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• If any of the four investments has become worth less than 15%, or more than 35%, of the portfolio's overall value, you need to restore the original percentages.

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• Don't touch the Permanent Portfolio. It is your future. In other words, don't play with your seat belt.

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• The truth is simply that: Anything can happen. Nothing has to happen. The beginning of investment wisdom is the realization that we live in an uncertain world—and that no one can eliminate the uncertainty for you.

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First Sentence edit see section history

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

1. Harry Browne (Author)

First Edition edit see section history

Classification edit see section history

• Library of Congress: HG0179.B7478 1999
• Dewey: 332.024

Subjects edit see section history

• Books › Business & Investing › Investing › Introduction
• Books › Business & Investing › Personal Finance