10: The Essential Rules for Beating the Market

Preface

Odds are you do not know me, and, as such, it seems appropriate that I tell you a little about who I am and how it is that I have written this book. After all, I am going to ask you to make the 10 rules in this book an integral part of your life when it comes to investing in and profiting by investing in the stock market.

You should know that I do not come from the world of finance. In fact, when I started out in my professional career, I never dreamed that I would be where I am today. I'll get to that part in a bit.

You see, I started out in life as a civil engineer. My goal was to build massive structures that would be of great benefit to mankind. But a fledgling engineer just graduating from college is never put in charge of building great structures. In fact, most new civil engineering grads are lucky if they get to design handrails for second-story apartments—but, I digress.

This preface is not an autobiography. I would not insult your intelligence by any such self-aggrandizement. However, it is important for you to know how someone like myself, who never intended to have a career in finance, much less become a professional portfolio and hedge fund manager, has managed to come to the point where you would care to take the time to learn how to become a master stock investor by reading my thoughts and ideas and how I approach making money in the stock market.

The reason why this story should matter to you is that, in a lot of ways, I suspect that you and I are very much alike. ...