is all true, and my own life has been the proof of it, better than any dream. Whenever I have committed myself with boldness, providence has followed,

Amidst this wave of complexity, have we forgotten the fact that the most productive investing is the simplest investing, the most peaceable investing, the lowest-cost investing, the most tax-efficient investing—investing with the most consistent strategies and over the longest time horizon? Apparently so. And I’m afraid that the new jazzed-up

My inherent resistance to shortcuts was greatly amplified by a hard experience as a police-beat reporter for the old Philadelphia Bulletin. In 1950, while working at a summer job, I got a call from the news desk to cover a house fire that was two trolley rides away from my location in a firehouse. (I had no car.) It was about midnight; I was tired

Our index fund was derided for years, and was not copied until nearly a full decade had passed.

no matter what career you choose, do your best to hold high its traditional professional values, now swiftly eroding, in which serving the client is always the highest priority. And don’t ignore the greater good of your community, your nation, and your world.

Rule 10: Press On, Regardless

In a New York Times essay in November 2004, David Brooks put it well: Highly educated young people are tutored, taught, and monitored in all aspects of their lives, except the most important, which is character-building. But without character and courage, nothing else lasts.

As noted earlier, money managers—led by the giant global financial conglomerates that dominate the industry (those conglomerates now own 32 of the 50 largest fund organizations, and another nine firms are publicly owned)—hold as their highest priority the return earned on their own capital, rather than the return earned on the capital they are

If character is not taught, how can it possibly be learned? The affluent world in which so many young citizens exist today doesn’t easily create the ability to build character. Often character requires failure; it requires adversity; it requires contemplation; it requires determination and steadfastness; it requires finding one’s own space as an