If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly

by William J. Bernstein

Trying to save and invest without a working knowledge of the theory and practice of finance is like learning to fly without grasping the basics of aerodynamics, engine systems, meteorology, and aeronautical risk management.

Even if you can invest like Warren Buffett, if you can’t save, you’ll die poor.

Those who ignore financial history are condemned to repeat it.

Learning market history isn’t just about knowing the past pattern of returns (though that’s helpful). In addition, it’s about learning to recognize the market’s emotional environment, which also correlates with future returns.

when asked how he knew to sell stocks the year before, Joseph Kennedy Sr. was said to have answered that when the shoeshine boys started offering him stock tips, he knew it was time to get out.

The real purpose of learning financial history is to give you the courage to do the selling at high prices and the buying at low ones mandated by the discipline of sticking to a fixed stock/bond allocation.

most mutual fund companies, for the reason mentioned previously: they exist to make profits for their owners, not you.