PREFACE
Who Am I to Tell You Something That Counts?
Who am I to tell you anything, much less anything that counts? Or that there are only three questions that count and I know what they are? Why should you bother reading any of this? Why listen to me at all?
As I update this book in 2011 for its second edition, I’ve been in the investment industry for nearly 40 years. I founded and am CEO of what is among the world’s largest independent discretionary money management firms, serving tens of thousands of high net worth individuals and an impressive roster of institutions—major corporate and public pension plans and endowments and foundations—spanning the globe. I’ve written Forbes’s “Portfolio Strategy” column for over 27 years, making me the fourth longest-running columnist in Forbes’s long history. I write regular columns in Britain and Germany. And now, I’ve written eight books, five of which (including this one) were national bestsellers. Along the way, and without really aiming at it, I made the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.
That’s a lot for one lifetime and one professional career. But I’m here to tell you the prime cumulative lesson of my long career is when it comes to investing, there are only three questions that count. And my view on that hasn’t changed since I first penned this book.
In reality, there really is only one question that counts. Or, at least, only one question that really counts. But I don’t know how to express that one question in a way you can ...
