the intelligent investor

I have finally finished reading the Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. It took me much longer than usual, due to my current work load / lack of time, and off course the fact that the book is not exactly the easiest read around. That said, I found it very interesting, and learnt a huge amount of new stuff from it. Unfortunately most of the examples in the book are a little difficult to follow, because they are mostly based on American companies, and then sometimes companies than pre-date my birth, but the principles are good and simple to understand.

Here is a very relevant lesson I learnt from the book, probably a little too late, especially when looking at the chaos on the stock exchanges these last few months, and the terrible impact it has had on my (small) investments (now even smaller):

"The cheap stocks may later become over-priced; the expensive stocks may turn cheap. At some point in its life, almost every stock is a bargain; at another time, it will be expensive. Although there are good and bad companies, there is no such thing as a good stock; there are only good stock prices, which come and go."

I guess another important lesson learnt, is to be patient, and not panic when markets fall. Don't buy if the price isn't right, even if the company is good (like I did), and don't sell because everything is falling (luckily I learnt this lesson before I made a even bigger mistake).

Overall a very good book, if you're keen to invest in shares.