Epiphanies

Nick Murray, who I have mentioned before as one of the great minds in the investment advisory business, celebrates his 41st anniversary as an advisor with an column in 'Financial Advisor' magazine titled Forty-One Epiphanies. Distilling a lifetime of experience into forty one snippets of wisdom is something only Nick could do. Here's a sampling:

• The world does not end. It only seems to be ending. This time is never different.
• Disciplined diversification is a pact with heaven: I will never own enough of any one thing to be able to make a killing in it; I will never own enough of any one thing to be able to be killed by it.
• The most fascinating aspect of all financial crises is their essential sameness.
• The dominate determinant of the real long-term returns real people really get isn't investment performance. It's investor behavior.