The ability to select stocks, manage them over time and know when to sell them is incredibly difficult, even for professional fund managers. Barry Ritholtz More Quotes by Barry Ritholtz More Quotes From Barry Ritholtz History shows us that people are terrible about guessing what is going to happen - next week, next month, and especially next year. Barry Ritholtz happen year history people Shopmas now begins on Thanksgiving Day. Apparently, escaping the families you cannot stand to spend another minute with on Thanksgiving Day to go buy them gifts is how some Americans show their affection for one another. Weird. Barry Ritholtz weird day you thanksgiving The beauty of diversification is it's about as close as you can get to a free lunch in investing. Barry Ritholtz free you lunch beauty Little white lies are told by humans all the time. Indeed, lying is often how we get through each day in a happy little bubble. We spend time and energy rationalizing our own behaviors, beliefs and decision-making processes. Barry Ritholtz day white happy time A well-designed 401(k) plan is an enormous competitive edge when recruiting and retaining employees. Barry Ritholtz competitive edge employees plan I credit Google for having the foresight to identify threats to its main business of selling advertising against search results. The potential loss of market share in the mobile space led them to the Android acquisition. Barry Ritholtz advertising space business loss It is in your DNA to love a good story. You know, neat tales with heroes and villains and conflicts to resolve. A good story pushes our buttons, is exciting and memorable. Barry Ritholtz story good you love The consumption and production of energy is a major component of the global economy. Barry Ritholtz production consumption economy energy Have a well-thought financial plan that is not dependent upon correctly guessing what will happen in the future. Barry Ritholtz plan happen will future Whenever I see a forecast written out to two decimal places, I cannot help but wonder if there is a misunderstanding of the limitations of the data, and an illusion of precision. Barry Ritholtz help see misunderstanding illusion With Twitter, you can build your own virtual trading floor and research department, populated by the smartest people on earth. Almost any subject or sector has you can think of, you can find a few people with an expertise in that area. Barry Ritholtz think you research people If you think too-big-to-fail banks are not worthy of investment because of their impossible-to-read balance sheets, well then, don't buy them. Barry Ritholtz think you investment balance Here is a dirty little secret: Stock-picking is wildly overrated. Sure, it makes for great cocktail party chatter, and what is more fun than delving into a company's new products? But the truth is that individual stocks are riskier than broad indices. Barry Ritholtz great truth-is truth fun How are the cabs in your city? In Manhattan, where I work, they are rather awful. Barry Ritholtz your city how work In New York, the former lack of real competition allowed taxis to extract excessive charges, regardless of the poor service. Barry Ritholtz new service competition poor The way we finance homes in this country is slow, filled with middlemen, who run a nonstandardized evaluation process. This makes financing a home cumbersome and difficult. Barry Ritholtz finance home country way There is a shortage of doctors, and the American Medical Association is aiming to keep it that way. Barry Ritholtz keep american medical way When it comes to investing, you are your own worst enemy. Barry Ritholtz your own you enemy No one knows what the top-performing asset class will be next year. Lacking this prescience, your next-best solution is to own all of the classes and rebalance regularly. Barry Ritholtz solution your own will When it comes to investing, there is no such thing as a one-size-fits-all portfolio. Barry Ritholtz portfolio thing investing