Here is a little something for the holidays. A pithy compilation of different Wall Street sayings and wisdom.
Timeless Wall Street Wisdom: The Wall Street Shuffle
The Wall Street mentality is the art of the possible, where optimism rules the day. While bears may be intellectually correct, they are rarely proven so, and they are never invited to parties.
Wall Street is made up of creative people who can find ways to turn a little money into a lot of money: mathematicians, rocket scientists, astrophysicists, and people who can sell ice cubes to Eskimos.
Youth, ego, and arrogance quickly turns wealth into wisdom and experience. Wisdom and experience is transmuted back into gold, cash, and reputation… if you can wait long enough.
Money is not made in the thinking, but in the sitting. Sometimes the best investments are the ones you don’t make. All you need to succeed on Wall Street is looking back at you in the mirror. He is your best friend. He is also your most difficult adversary. He is the mountain you must climb to win at this investing game. Tomorrow you will wake up, and do it all again. Don’t fight the tape. Don’t fight the Fed. Don’t fight the trend. — Fight the crowd.
The game doesn’t change and neither does human nature. Another fight you won’t win.
Wall Street is always right, until it is wrong… Very wrong. Frequently wrong, but never in doubt. Everyone has an explanation, but never an answer.
Wall Street is the center of capitalism, for better or for worse. We all are led to believe that Wall Street works, the best system in the world. What a low bar to step over. The facade of Wall Street has shown its cracks, from friction rather than age. A man from UK crashes Wall Street from his parent’s basement. A “fat-fingered” trader crashes Wall Street from his desk. Yet Wall Street doesn’t fall when it deserves to. The unholy grail of capitalism.
If you don’t understand what any of this means, spend some time on wall street. Your money and someone else’s experience will turn into your experience and their money.
About the author: Kirk Chisholm is a Wealth Manager and Principal at Innovative Advisory Group. His roles at IAG are co-chair of the Investment Committee and Head of the Traditional Investment Risk Management Group. His background and areas of focus are portfolio management and investment analysis in both the traditional and alternative investment markets. He received a BA degree in Economics from Trinity College in Hartford, CT.