Edwin Dorsey on the importance of long-term thinking in business

The single idea, and we've touched on this a little bit, is I believe there's a lot of things that businesses can do to make the numbers better in the short-term, but hurt the long-term value.  You can raise prices, you can make it more difficult to cancel, you can make it more difficult to get refunds, you can cut corners on content moderation.  All these things help the numbers in the short-term, so they make the stock more attractive in the short-term while harming long-term value.  And seeing that disconnect when it occurs is where I think a lot of investors can profit.

The final idea is businesses can easily do things that help the short-term numbers and hurt long-term value.

~ Edwin Dorsey, "Simple Yet Powerful Tips for Short Selling - Exposing the Red Flags," Stansberry Investor Hour, 57:30 mark, November 4, 2024

Kevin Duffy on being a long-term investor

As a long-term investor, I get far more excited about the quality and number of seeds being planted than the size of the annual harvest.

~ Kevin Duffy, "Portfolio Review," The Coffee Can Portfolio, pp. 15-16, October 22, 2024

Lee Kuan Yew on history and long-term thinking

If you do not know history, you think short term.  If you do know history, you think medium and long term.

~ Lee Kuan Yew, first Prime Minister of Singapore from 1959 to 1990

Rolf Dobelli on long-term thinking and persistence

Once you've identified your circle of competence, stick to it as long as possible.  Likewise if you find a good spouse, a suitable place to live or a rewarding hobby.  Perseverance, tenacity and long-term thinking are highly valuable yet underrated virtues.

~ Rolf Dobelli, The Art of the Good Life, "The Secret of Persistence," p. 61

Kaushal "Ken" Majmudar on investing process vs. outcome

Most investors who are fooled by randomness focus too much on outcome (i.e. historical experience grounded in statistics) and too little on process.  By focusing on outcome over process, you tend to become overactive, undisciplined and a follower – looking and finding short-term patterns to which you attribute often false significance.  You constantly attempt to move to greener pastures but rarely arrive at your destination or stay to enjoy your surroundings.  In investing as in life, most people overestimate what can be accomplished in one year and vastly underestimate what can be accomplished in ten years.

~ Kaushal "Ken" Majmudar, founder of Ridgewood Investments, 2005 Annual Letter to Clients, March 7,  2006

Confucius on planning

If a man takes no thought about what is distant, he will find sorrow near at hand.

~ Confucius

(Quoted by Jim Rogers in A Bull in China, p. 12.)

Confucius on achieving long-term goals

Do not wish for quick results, nor look for small advantages.  If you seek quick results, you will not reach the ultimate goal.  If you are led astray by small advantages, you will never accomplish great things.

~ Confucius

Warren Buffett on patience and investing

The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.

~ Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett on thinking and investing long-term

I never attempt to make money on the stock market.  I buy on the assumption that they could close the market the next day and not reopen it for ten years.

~ Warren Buffett

Rick Rule on investing, patience, and time arbitrage

The old guys..., those few who have been really, really, really successful, always seem to invest for the 5 to 6 year time frame.  My suspicion is that time arbitrage, that is aligning your preferences with the reality of the investments that you are making, is one of the most important determinants of success.  Some people believe that because they want something to happen in the near term, that their wants are germane.  And they're not.

~ Rick Rule, "The Time for Value Stocks is Here," Stansberry Investor Hour, 30:15 mark, April 16, 2020

David Hale on the need for government to work with business

What you've got to have is a group of civil servants, politicians and businessmen working together who can get everything pulling together in the same direction.  Let's have the private sector play the really critical role of making the investments and seeking out the markets -- but feeling as if it has the full support of the system behind it so they can take a five-year view.

~ David Hale, chief economist, Kemper Financial Services, "A Top Economist Frets About '80s Hangover," Investor's Daily, February 1, 1990