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15 Fascinating Harry Markowitz Quotes

Harry Markowitz is an American economist and recipient of the John con Neumann Theory Prize. Award winner and author, Markowitz is best known for his work in modern portfolio theory. Here is a look at some of the most notable Harry Markowitz quotes ever documented.

“A good portfolio is more than a long list of good stocks and bonds. It is a balanced whole, providing the investor with protections and opportunities with respect to a wide range of contingencies.”

“Advisors can create the best portfolios in the world, but they won’t really matter if the clients don’t stay in them.”

“Becoming an economist was not a childhood dream of mine.”

“Diversifying sufficiently among uncorrelated risks can reduce portfolio risk toward zero.”

“During the 1950s, I decided, as did many others, that many practical problems were beyond analytic solution and that simulation techniques were required.”

“I never was aware of the Great Depression.”

“I would never be 100 percent in stocks or 100 percent in bonds or cash.”

“In choosing a portfolio, investors should seek broad diversification, Further, they should understand that equities–and corporate bonds also–involve risk; that markets inevitably fluctuate; and their portfolio should be such that they are willing to ride out the bad as well as the good times.”

“It’s like a crapshoot in Las Vegas, except in Las Vegas the odds are with the house. As for the market, the odds are with you, because on average over the long run, the market has paid off.”

“One hundred securities whose returns rise and fall in near unison afford little protection than the uncertain return of a single security.”

“Perhaps the most important job of a financial advisor is to get their clients in the right place on the efficient frontier in their portfolios. But their No. 2 job, a very close second, is to create portfolios that their clients are comfortable with.”

“Portfolio theory, as used by most financial planners, recommends that you diversify with a balance of stocks and bonds and cash that’s suitable to your risk tolerance.”

“The chief problem with the individual investor: He or she typically buys when the market is high and thinks it’s going to go up, and sells when the market is low and thinks it’s going to go down.”

“To reduce risk it is necessary to avoid a portfolio whose securities are all highly correlated with each other.”

“We next consider the rule that the investor does or should consider expected return a desirable thing and variance of return an undesirable thing.”

Here is one look at the Master of Finance Harry Markowitz as he discusses some of the biggest issues in the present day.

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