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Costs & staying the course

Winning the Loser's Game

Charles D. Ellis

For amateurs, investing is a loser's game won by not losing - cut mistakes and costs, don't chase brilliance.

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Chapters

13
  1. Chapter 01The Loser's GameIn amateur tennis and in investing alike, you win not by hitting brilliant winners but by making fewer mistakes than the other side.Read this chapter →
  2. Chapter 02Beating the MarketThe price is set by full-time professionals, so there is no easy edge left lying around for an amateur to grab.Read this chapter →
  3. Chapter 03Mr. Market and Mr. ValueIgnore the market's daily mood swings and watch only the slow, real growth of business value.Read this chapter →
  4. Chapter 04Investor Risk and BehaviorYour own fear and greed do more damage to your returns than the market ever will.Read this chapter →
  5. Chapter 05Indexing: Your Unfair AdvantageThe one real edge an ordinary investor has is a cheap, broad index fund held patiently.Read this chapter →
  6. Chapter 06TimeThe longer money stays invested, the more time turns small, steady returns into large ones.Read this chapter →
  7. Chapter 07Returns and Real RiskThe real danger is not that prices wobble but that you permanently lose money or miss your goal.Read this chapter →
  8. Chapter 08Building Portfolios: Whole-Picture FinanceSet your stock-bond mix by looking at everything you own - future salary, home and pension included - not just your fund account.Read this chapter →
  9. Chapter 09Why Policy MattersDecide your long-term plan in calm times and write it down, so a bad day can't rewrite it.Read this chapter →
  10. Chapter 10Phooey on PheesA 'small' 1% fee is really a big slice of your returns, because it eats profits, not the whole pot.Read this chapter →
  11. Chapter 11Predicting the Market - RoughlyNobody can time the market, but today's valuation gives a rough clue to the next decade's returns.Read this chapter →
  12. Chapter 12The Individual Investor's PlaybookFor your own retirement, save steadily, pick cheap index funds, and never chase last year's winners.Read this chapter →
  13. Chapter 13Disaster, Endgame, and BeyondCrashes come again and again, so plan for them; once you have enough, take risk off and think about giving.Read this chapter →

This is my own plain-English understanding of the book’s ideas, in my own words with my own ₹ examples, laid out against the book’s real chapters so you can relate the two. It is not the book and reproduces none of its text - if it helps, please buy the book. Not affiliated with the author or publisher. The author is not SEBI-registered; nothing here is investment advice.