Montier’s seven immutable laws of investing

By Prieur du Plessis, on November 4th, 2011 posted in: Investment, Markets, Money Leave your comment

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James Montier, a long-time favorite among the readers of Investment Postcards, a while ago produced a white paper entitled “The Seven Immutable Laws of investing”. In the paper, the GMO strategist presents a set of principles to guide sensible investment that I thought appropriate to revisit at this juncture.

The principles are:

1. Always insist on a margin of safety

2. This time is never different

3. Be patient and wait for the fat pitch

4. Be contrarian

5. Risk is the permanent loss of capital, never a number

6. Be leery of leverage

7. Never invest in something you don’t understand

Montier concludes as follows: “I hope these seven immutable laws help you to avoid some of the worst mistakes, which, when made, tend to lead investors down the path of the permanent impairment of capital.”

Click here for the full report (free registration is required).

Source: James Montier, GMO, March 2011.

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