You don’t read a lot about Bernard Baruchanymore, but his teachings about the market are useful today as they always have been. There are several good books about him including his own“Baruch: My Own Story” which I recommend highly especially for those of you looking for a book to take with you on your summer vacations.

Although I’ve provided several quotes from Bernard Baruch through the years, here are some notes that I’ve taken from reading about him and his market wisdom. Enjoy!

• Baruch started out as most traders do – i.e. losing lots of money because he lacked the knowledge, experience, & discipline. “You have to lose money in order to better yourself.”

• Real success in the market takes time and money. Unfortunately “most people view the market as the place where the miracle of great and quick riches can be performed with little effort.”

• Overtrading and holding too many positions in his early years caused Baruch to go broke many times before he developed the discipline to succeed.

• A successful speculation is “a man who observes the future and acts before it occurs.” Acting swiftly in the market is important.

• After losing money from the recommendation of others, Baruch focused himself on the facts. “One must search through a maze of complex and contradictory details to get to the significant facts…..Then he must be able to operate coldly, clearly, and skillfully on the basis of those facts.” The challenge for the successful speculator is “how to disentangle the cold hard facts from the rather warm feelings of the people dealing with the facts.” Moreover, “if you get all the facts, your judgment can be right; if you don’t get all the facts, it can’t be right.” (more…)