Introduction

Join the authors on a brief but instructional journey back in time—but not too far back. Think about the year 2008. More specifically, think about your investment portfolio in 2008. Warning: This journey might be upsetting and/or emotionally painful. If you are like most investors, your portfolio suffered losses that were historic in size and scope. Believe me, we are reluctant to take you on this journey. After all, this is the first paragraph of the first chapter of the first book we have ever written. Putting you in a bad mood in the first paragraph is a little risky. But we hope this exercise will prove enlightening.

Next, think about the investment destruction that continued through early 2009. Unbelievably, the markets sank ...

Get Buy and Hedge: The 5 Iron Rules for Investing Over the Long Term now with the O’Reilly learning platform.

O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.