Why study stock market history? Don’t just take our word for it. Here’s what some of the best investors of all time have said about the importance of understanding history:
“Business Schools fail by teaching what is easy to teach but less useful. Going back to teaching business history as Harvard used to would be good; there’s a lot to be learned from the rise and fall of GM, or the rise and fall of railroads.”
-Charlie Munger
As I look back now, it’s obvious that studying history and philosophy was much better preparation for stock market than studying statistics…those who are trained to rigidly quantify everything are at a huge disadvantage.”
– Peter Lynch.
Read more on Peter Lunch Here: A Look At Peter Lynch’s Investment Style
“…have an adequate idea of stock market history, in terms, particularly, of the major fluctuations. With this background he may be in a position to form some worthwhile judgment of the attractiveness or dangers…of the market.”
– Ben Graham
“Investors, as opposed to traders and speculators, have to make long-term, slowly evolving judgements about the course of events in economies and the world. The more history they know and understand, the better these perspective decisions will be”
– Barton Biggs
Barton Biggs is the author of what I think is one of the best stock market history books ever written, “Wealth, War, and Wisdom”
The only other way (besides visiting countries around the world yourself) to know what is going on is to study history. When I teach or speak at universities, young people always ask me: “I want to be successful and travel around the world; what should I study?”
I always tell them the same thing: “Study history.”
And they always look at me very perplexed and say, “What are you talking about…what about economics, what about marketing?”
If you want to be successful, I always say, You‘ve got to understand history. You will see how the world his always changing. You will see how a lot of the things we see today have happened before. Believe it or not, the stock market didn’t begin the day you graduated from school. The stock market‘s been around for centuries. All markets have. These things have happened before. And will happen again.
-Jim Rogers
“Why are memories so short? Why do such speculative crazes seem so isolated from the lessons of history? I have no apt answer to offer, but I am convinced that Bernard Baruch was correct in suggesting that a study of these events can help equip investors for survival.”
–Burton Malkiel
Did you know? You can go to any day’s “This Day in History” page by simply entering the month and date after www.begintoinvest.com/
For example: www.begintoinvest.com/May-9
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Now, ‘This Day in History’ is also available as an Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing!
Have any events I’m missing? contact me via our contact forum, or shoot me an e-mail at matt*at*begintoinvest.com
