Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments

PRAISE FOR
BIG MISTAKES

"We′re often told how the best get it right, but not how the best can still get it wrong. In Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments, Michael Batnick illuminates the reasons why revered investors like Warren Buffett and Jack Bogle along with brilliant minds like Mark Twain and even Isaac Newton have still, at times, lost grand sums of money."
Bethany McLean, Author of The Smartest Guys in the Room, Contributing Editor, Vanity Fair

"Michael Batnick has written a terrific book on investing that doubles as solid financial history. Learning about what has failed, and why, is often more instructive than highlighting success."
Jim Chanos, President and Founder, Kynikos Associates

"Michael Batnick′s new book Big Mistakes: The Best Investors and Their Worst Investments is superb. It succinctly covers the mistakes that some of the greatest investment legends made, and in doing so, reminds us that everyone makes mistakes and that one of the best things we can do to improve our investment results is learn from both our own mistakes and those of others. Happily, one big mistake is easy to avoid not reading Michael′s fascinating and informative new book. Now that would be a big mistake."
Jim O′Shaughnessy, Author of What Works on Wall Street, Founder, Chairman, and Chief Investment Officer, O′Shaughnessy Asset Management

"Michael has written one of the important investment books of our time. Good investing isn′t all about being smart; it′s about maintaining emotional discipline. This book is an amazing chronicle of investors who, at times, didn′t. And since many of those profiled are the greatest investors who ever lived, their lessons are even more relevant to the rest of us."
Morgan Housel, Partner, Collaborative Fund

Preface

Acknowledgments

Chapter 1
Benjamin Graham

There Are No Iron–Clad Laws

Chapter 2
Jesse Livermore

Manage Your Risk

Chapter 3
Mark Twain

Don t Get Attached

Chapter 4
John Meriwether

Genius s Limits

Chapter 5
Jack Bogle

Find What Works for You

Chapter 6
Michael Steinhardt

Stay in Your Lane

Chapter 7
Jerry Tsai

You re Not As Smart As You Think

Chapter 8
Warren Buffett

Beware of Overconfidence

Chapter 9
Bill Ackman

Get Off Your Soapbox

Chapter 10
Stanley Druckenmiller

Hard Lessons Can Be Necessary

Chapter 11
Sequoia

The Risks of Concentrated Investing

Chapter 12
John Maynard Keynes

The Most Addictive Game

Chapter 13
John Paulson

You Only Need to Win Once

Chapter 14
Charlie Munger

Handling Big Losses

Chapter 15
Chris Sacca

Dealing With Regret

Chapter 16
Michael Batnick

Looking In the Mirror

About the Author

Index

MICHAEL BATNICK is the director of Research at Ritholtz Wealth Management. He develops and implements risk management and portfolio strategies for clients and leads internal research efforts. He educates people on investing at The Irrelevant Investor blog and co–produces the weekly podcast, Animal Spirits.