A Wealth of Common Sense
10 Great Lines From ‘Where Are the Customers’ Yachts?’
Posted February 15, 2015 by Ben Carlson
Where Are the Customers’ Yachts by Fred Schwed was written almost 75 years ago. I only read this book for the first time a few months ago and it’s remarkable how well it still holds up after all these years. It’s probably the funniest investment book I’ve ever read (out of an admittedly small set of competitors).
Here are some of my favorite lines:
1. On using statistics to your advantage: “One can’t say that figures lie. But figures as used in financial arguments, seem to have the bad habit of expressing a small part of the truth forcibly, and neglecting the other part, as do some people we know.”
2. On the value of “I don’t know”: For one thing, customers have an unfortunate habit of asking about the financial future. Now, if you do someone the single honor of asking him a difficult question, you may be assured that you will get a detailed answer. Rarely will it be the most difficult of all answers – “I don’t know.”
3. On the cyclical nature of the markets: “When “conditions” are good, the forward looking investor buys. But when “conditions” are good, stocks are high. Then without anyone having the courtesy to ring a bell, “conditions” get bad.”
4. On the usefulness of theories: “All of these theories are true part of the time; none of them true all of the time. They are, therefore, dangerous, though sometimes useful.”
5. It’s a little different every time: “History does in a vague way repeat itself, but it does it slowly and ponderously, and with an infinite number of surprising variations.
6. On the emotions of losing money: “Like all of life’s rich emotional experiences, the full flavor of losing important money cannot be conveyed by literature. You cannot convey to an inexperienced girl what it is truly like to be a wife and mother. There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin by words or pictures.”
7. On second-level thinking: “Those classes of investments considered “best” change from period to period. The pathetic fallacy is that what are thought to be the best are in truth only the most popular – the most active, the most talked of, the most boosted, and consequently, the highest in price at that time.”
8. On leverage: “A man who borrows money to buy a common stock has no right to think of himself as a constructive social benefactor. His is just another fellow trying to be smart, or lucky, or both.”
9. On short sellers before the Great Depression: “Before October 1929, nobody objected to short sellers except their families. The families objected to going bankrupt.”
10. On who’s to blame for poor advice: “The burnt customer certainly prefers to believe that he has been robbed rather than that he has been a fool on the advice of fools.”
Source: Where Are the Customers’ Yachts
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BEN CARLSON, CFA
A Wealth of Common Sense is a blog that focuses on wealth management, investments, financial markets and investor psychology. I manage portfolios for institutions and individuals at Ritholtz Wealth Management LLC . More about me here . For disclosure information please see here .
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Fred Schwed, Jr. Quotes
Best 28 quotes by fred schwed, jr., where are the customers' yachts quotes.
“A man who borrows money to buy a common stock has no right to think of himself as a constructive social benefactor. His is just another fellow trying to be smart, or lucky, or both.”
“Admittedly, it is preposterous to suggest that stock speculation is like coin-flipping. I know that there is more skill to stock speculation. What I have never been able to determine is – how much more?”
“All of these theories are true part of the time; none of them true all of the time. They are, therefore, dangerous, though sometimes useful.”
“As a science, I should say that chart reading shares a pedestal with astrology; but most chart readers are educated men and have too much mental discipline to take astrology seriously.”
“At the close of the day’s business, they take all the money and throw it up in the air. Everything that sticks to the ceiling belongs to the clients.”
“Before October 1929, nobody objected to short sellers except their families. The families objected to going bankrupt”
“Dictatorships always immediately ban short selling, since it is axiomatic with them that no professional pessimists are going to be tolerated.”
“For one thing, customers have an unfortunate habit of asking about the financial future. Now, if you do someone the single honor of asking him a difficult question, you may be assured that you will get a detailed answer. Rarely will it be the most difficult of all answers – I don’t know.”
“His business might be defined as the lending of money exclusively to people who have no pressing need of it.”
“History does in a vague way repeat itself, but it does it slowly and ponderously, and with an infinite number of surprising variations.”
“In our moments of sober thought we all realize that booms are bad things, not good. But nearly all of us have a secret hankering for another one. 'Another little orgy wouldn’t do us any harm', is the feeling that persists both downtown and up.”
“Investment and speculation are said to be two different things, and the prudent man is advised to engage in the one and avoid the other. This is something like explaining to the troubled adolescent that Love and Passion are two different things. He perceives that they are different, but they don't seem quite different enough to clear up his problems.”
“It seems that the immature mind has a regrettable tendency to believe, as actually true, that which it only hopes to be true.”
“Like all of life’s rich emotional experiences, the full flavor of losing important money cannot be conveyed by literature. You cannot convey to an inexperienced girl what it is truly like to be a wife and mother. There are certain things that cannot be adequately explained to a virgin by words or pictures. Nor can any description that I might offer here even approximate what it feels like to lose a real chunk of money that you used to own.”
“One can’t say that figures lie. But figures, as used in financial arguments, seem to have the bad habit of expressing a small part of the truth forcibly, and neglecting the other part, as do some people we know.”
“Orderly markets, like horse races, exist on differences of opinion.”
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More quotes by Jack D. Schwager
“Speculation is an effort, probably unsuccessful, to turn a little money into a lot. Investment is an effort, which should be successful, to prevent a lot of money from becoming a little.”
“The burnt customer certainly prefers to believe that he has been robbed rather than that he has been a fool on the advice of fools.”
“The croupier at the roulette table does not claim that he knows something about the order in which the numbers will come up. He just sees to it that the bets are properly paid off and that the house isn't gypped – which is a job requiring competence.”
“The indignation school of writers never tires of pointing out the millions that are stolen in the Street. But while the millions are being stolen, the billions are being lost. Nothing crooked — just bad luck and bad brains met together in an effort to do something that couldn’t be done in the first place.”
“The notion, a debatable one, is that the man who knows the problems necessarily knows the answers. This book has not been successful if it has not suggested some big-league problems, such as: 1) Should our financial machinery be scrapped? 2) Should it be further tinkered with, and if so, how much further? 3) Is capitalism doomed? 4) What active stock selling under five dollars looks hot just now for a quick turn to pay for the Buick the wife just bought? There isn’t an assistant instructor in economics in any faculty who can’t answer these and similar questions rapidly and categorically, and if that is not enough there are a million laymen eager to do so. So I don’t feel that my vote is much needed.”
“The S.E.C. has not been loath to join the popular hue and cry against the friendless short seller. From this we have a right to deduce that they not only want an orderly market, but a market which shall forever gently rise. Of course, that conception is just plain silly, like Voltaire’s suggestion that a community ought to be able to support itself by everybody taking in everybody else’s washing.”
“The subject of choosing profitable financial investments does not lead itself to competence. There is almost no visible supply. If there were, it would have been discovered long ago.”
“There have always been a considerable number of pathetic people who busy themselves examining the last thousand numbers which have appeared on a roulette wheel in search of some repeating pattern. Sadly enough, they have usually found it.”
“They told me to buy this stock for my old age. It worked wonderfully. Within a week I was an old man.”
“Those classes of investments considered 'best' change from period to period. The pathetic fallacy is that what are thought to be the best are in truth only the most popular – the most active, the most talked of, the most boosted, and consequently, the highest in price at that time.”
“To them having a sizable cash balance in an account for any length of time is unbearable. Suppose stocks should go way up? They would be left high and dry with nothing but some dirty money.”
“When 'conditions' are good, the forward looking investor buys. But when 'conditions' are good, stocks are high. Then without anyone having the courtesy to ring a bell, 'conditions' get bad.”
“A study of a cohort of 4,800 African Americans born between 1952 and 1982 shows that, as they grew into adults, 69 percent of the cohort remain in the same county, 82 percent remain in the same state, and 90 percent remain in the same region. The figures for the previous generation were 50 percent, 65 percent, and 74 percent.”
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IMAGES
COMMENTS
Rarely will it be the most difficult of all answers - "I don't know.". 3. On the cyclical nature of the markets: "When "conditions" are good, the forward looking investor buys. But when "conditions" are good, stocks are high. Then without anyone having the courtesy to ring a bell, "conditions" get bad.". 4. On the ...
Where Are the Customers' Yachts?: or A Good Hard Look at Wall Street by Fred Schwed Jr. 2,451 ratings, 3.90 average rating, 194 reviews. Where Are the Customers' Yachts? Quotes Showing 1-15 of 15. "Speculation is an effort, probably unsuccessful, to turn a little money into a lot.
John C. Bogle. Common Sense on Mutual Funds. More quotes by John C. Bogle. "Speculation is an effort, probably unsuccessful, to turn a little money into a lot. Investment is an effort, which should be successful, to prevent a lot of money from becoming a little.". Fred Schwed, Jr. Where Are the Customers' Yachts? "The burnt customer ...
Here are ten quotes that can serve as a force field to ward of investment charlatans. Ignore these quotes at your own peril: Wall Street Greed - "At the close of the day's business, they take all the money and throw it up in the air. Everything that sticks to the ceiling belongs to the clients.".
The title came from a story about a visitor in New York more than a century ago. After admiring yachts Wall Street bought with money earned giving financial advice to customers, he wondered where ...
Below are the Best Quotes from Where Are The Customers' Yachts? by Fred Schwed:. ""Where Are The Customers' Yachts?" Book Summary" is published by Business & Books.
The title refers to a story about a visitor to New York who admired the yachts of the bankers and brokers. Naively, he asked where all the customers' yachts were? Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true ...
Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true look at the world of investing, in which brokers get rich while their customers go broke, this book continues to open the eyes of investors to the reality of Wall ...
Where are the Customers' Yachts was written in 1940 by Fred Schwed, an investment professional. It's one of my favorite books on markets and I'm sure it will still be timeless 80 years from now. The origin of the title: Source: Page 1 of Where are the Customers' Yachts. Here are my takeaways from the book plus some great quotes:
the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true look at the world of investing, in which brokers get rich while their customers go broke, this book continues to open the eyes of investors to the reality of Wall Street. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Fred Schwed, Jr. was an American stock broker turned author, known for his book on Wall Street, Where Are the Customers' Yachts? Background. Schwed was born in New York. Schwed's father, Frederick Schwed, was a member of the New York Curb Exchange (renamed in 1953 to AMEX). He was a ...
Friends of William Travers, a big short seller of the time, admired the beautiful yachts of the richest Wall Street brokers. Finally, one asks, "Where are the customers' yachts?". Wall Street is not in the business of making you money, it's in the business of generating transactions. "If you are not a skeptic, you are not an investor.".
The ability to sit still is a superpower. Most people suffer from an inability to do nothing. Where are the Customers' Yachtswas written in 1940 by Fred Schwed, an investment professional. It ...
One wonders why the problem of unemployment cannot be solved by having the unemployed buy and sell each other options, instead of mooning around on those park benches". Where are the Customers ...
Fred Schwed, Jr., was a professional trader who had the good sense to get out after losing a bundle (of mostly his own money) in the 1929 crash. Some years later, Schwed published a children's book titled Wacky, the Small Boy. Wacky became a bestseller, and Schwed went on to draw further on his experience in writing Where Are the Customers' Yachts?
Where are the Customers' Yachts? Or, A Good Hard Look at Wall Street. Fred Schwed. Fraser Publishing Company, 1985 - Business & Economics - 215 pages. One of the most amusing and penetrating views of Wall Street ever written. Enlightening and hilarious, packed with brilliantly funny anecdotes and astute observations on Wall Street and its players.
by Bill Bernstein » Mon Mar 20, 2023 3:57 pm. In 1929 there was a luxurious club car which ran each week-day morning into the Pennsylvania Station. When the train stopped, the assorted millionaires who had been playing bridge, reading the paper, and comparing their fortunes, filed out of the front end of the car.
Where Are The Customers' Yachts? | Seeking Alpha. Power to Investors. Subscription Support: 1-347-509-6837.
The title of this 1955 book refers to a story about a visitor to New York who admired the yachts of the bankers and brokers. Naively, he asked where all the customers' yachts were. Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers.
A quote from "Where Are the Customers' Yachts?". Originally published in 1940. Is it still relevant today? ... With advice like that, I'd also wonder where tf are my fookin' yachts. ... This particular quote might not have aged well, but the book's title has come into my head a couple times when people have tried to sell me on certain things ...
Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true look at the world of investing, in which brokers get rich while their customers go broke, this book continues to open the eyes of investors to the reality of Wall ...
Of course, none of the customers could afford yachts, even though they dutifully followed the advice of their bankers and brokers. Full of wise contrarian advice and offering a true look at the world of investing, in which brokers get rich while their customers go broke, this book continues to open the eyes of investors to the reality of Wall ...
It wasn't just a waterspout that capsized Bayesian. There were three unusual design features that may have contributed to the sinking.
After two days of search-and-rescue efforts, British tech entrepreneur Mike Lynch, Morgan Stanley International chairman Jonathan Bloomer and four others were feared dead aboard the sunken ...
Like. 15 quotes from Fred Schwed Jr.: 'Speculation is an effort, probably unsuccessful, to turn a little money into a lot. Investment is an effort, which should be successful, to prevent a lot of money from becoming a little.', 'The notion, a debatable one, is that the man who knows the problems necessarily knows the answers.
Italian search and rescue teams are set to enter their fourth day of operations around a sunken yacht off Sicily, where British tech tycoon Mike Lynch and Morgan Stanley International chair ...
When Ritz-Carlton Yacht Collection finally unveiled its 298-passenger Evrima in 2022 after a few years of high-water drama involving construction delays at a Spanish shipyard, it blazed a trail as ...
Italian search and rescue teams have retrieved a fifth body from a sunken yacht off Sicily, where British tech tycoon Mike Lynch is among those feared to have died.. Morgan Stanley International chair Jonathan Bloomer and his wife Judy were among the victims who died, their children said in a statement on Thursday.. A total of six people likely were trapped and died inside the Bayesian when it ...
A man was taken to hospital after his sailing yacht crashed on rocks in the Outer Hebrides. Coastguard teams received a mayday call from the 34-foot vessel at 8:41pm yesterday, Wednesday, August 21.
Gordon fell in love with yachting after she stepped aboard a yacht for the first time in her mid-20s. Hellbent on reaching captain level, Gordon quickly worked her way up the chain of command.