Focus Capital Management, Home

The idea that very smart people with investment skills should have hugely diversified portfolios is madness. It’s a very conventional madness. And it’s taught in all the business schools. But they’re wrong.

—Charlie Munger
EXPLORE
A well-diversified portfolio needs just four stocks.

—Charlie Munger
EXPLORE
One’s knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time, in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence.

—John Maynard Keynes
EXPLORE
Sweet are the uses of diversity, but only if you want to end up in the middle of an average.

—The Money Game
EXPLORE
Diversification is protection against ignorance. Risk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
It is a mistake to think that one limits one’s risk by spreading too much between enterprises about which one knows little and has no reason for special confidence.

—John Maynard Keynes
EXPLORE
In small portfolios, I’d be comfortable owning between three and ten stocks.

—Peter Lynch
EXPLORE
There’s no use diversifying into unknown companies just for the sake of diversity. A foolish diversity is the hobgoblin of small investors.

—Peter Lynch
EXPLORE
The most successful horse players (I guess they lose the least) are the ones who don’t bet on every race but wager on only those occasions when they have a clear conviction.

—Joel Greenblatt
EXPLORE
Price is what you pay; value is what you get.

—Benjamin Graham
EXPLORE
Usually a very long list of securities is not a sign of the brilliant investor, but of one who is unsure of himself.

—Philip Fisher
EXPLORE
In my view, it’s best to own as many stocks as there are situations in which (a) you’ve got an edge; and (b) you’ve uncovered an exciting prospect that passes all the tests of research.

—Peter Lynch
EXPLORE
Good investment ideas — that is, companies that meet our criteria, are difficult to find. When we have found one, we make a large commitment.

—Lou Simpson
EXPLORE
There is no sense diluting your best ideas or favorite situations by continuing to work your way down a list of attractive opportunities.

—Joel Greenblatt
EXPLORE
Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
If you are a professional and have confidence, then I would advocate lots of concentration.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
IF YOU INVEST LIKE NO ONE ELSE INVESTS,
YOU GET RESULTS NO ONE ELSE GETS!
EXPLORE
Concentrated investing implies less risk of permanent loss as long as you maintain superior knowledge about the companies you own.

—Bruce Berkowitz
EXPLORE
The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long-term orientation.

—Seth Klarman
EXPLORE
The greater the potential for reward in the value portfolio, the less risk there is.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
It is also a fact that the more stocks you own the less you know about each of them and I have never found a theory of investment that suggests that the less you know about something, the more likely you are to generate superior returns.

—Terry Smith
EXPLORE
In the field of common stocks, a little bit of a great many can never be more than a poor substitute for a few of the outstanding.

—Philip Fisher
EXPLORE
Hold no more stocks than you can remain informed on.

—Peter Lynch
EXPLORE
What an investor needs is the ability to correctly evaluate selected businesses. Note that word ‘selected’: You don’t have to be an expert on every company, or even many.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
Patience can produce uncommon profits.

—Philip L. Carret
EXPLORE
The theory of scattering one’s investments over as many fields as possible might be the wisest plan on the assumption of comprehensive ignorance.

—John Maynard Keynes
EXPLORE
Buying a company without having sufficient knowledge of it may be even more dangerous than having inadequate diversification.

—Philip Fisher
EXPLORE
We believe that a policy of portfolio concentration may well decrease risk if it raises, as it should, both the intensity with which an investor thinks about a business and the comfort-level he must feel with its economic characteristics before buying into it. In stating this opinion, we define risk, using dictionary terms, as ‘the possibility of loss or injury.’

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
There’s lots of stocks out there and all you need is a few of them. That’s been my philosophy.

—Peter Lynch
EXPLORE
Obsession with broad diversification is the sure road to mediocrity.

—John Neff
EXPLORE
Diversification is only a surrogate, and usually a poor surrogate, for knowledge, control, and price consciousness.

—Martin Whitman
EXPLORE
The disadvantage of having eggs in so many baskets is that a lot of eggs do not end up in really attractive baskets, and it is impossible to keep watching all the baskets after the eggs are put in.

—Philip Fisher
EXPLORE
Take extreme care to own not the most, but the best.

—Philip Fisher
EXPLORE
Great investors are not unemotional, but are inversely emotional — they get worried when the market is up and feel good when everyone is worried.

—Bill Miller
EXPLORE
It is undoubtedly better to concentrate on one stock that you know is going to prove highly profitable, rather than dilute your results to a mediocre figure, merely for diversification’s sake.

—Benjamin Graham
EXPLORE
It is often easier to tell what will happen to the price of a stock than how much time will elapse before it happens.

—Philip Fisher
EXPLORE
All intelligent investing is value investing — acquiring more than you are paying for. You must value the business in order to value the stock.

—Charlie Munger
EXPLORE
You have to have the courage of your convictions. That’s what you are getting paid for. This is the time when you really earn your money.

—Bruce Berkowitz
EXPLORE
Diversification is protection against ignorance. Risk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings.

—Warren Buffet
EXPLORE
You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
Very few people have gotten rich on their seventh best idea.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
A stock is not just a ticker symbol or an electronic blip; it is an ownership interest in an actual business, with an underlying value that does not depend on its share price.

—Benjamin Graham
EXPLORE
An investor should act as though he had a lifetime decision card with just twenty punches on it.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
The idea that it is hard to find good investments, so concentrate in a few, seems to me to be an obvious idea.

—Charlie Munger
EXPLORE
Investors have been so oversold on diversification that fear of having too many eggs in one basket has caused them to put far too little into companies they thoroughly know and far too much in others which they know nothing about.

—Philip Fisher
EXPLORE
It’s crazy to put money in your twentieth choice rather than your first choice.

—Warren Buffett
EXPLORE
My theory of risk is that it is better to take a substantial holding of what one believes in than scatter holdings in fields where he has not the same assurance.

—John Maynard Keynes
EXPLORE
No prudent investor puts all the eggs in a single basket. But too much diversification hobbles performance.

—John Neff
EXPLORE
Put all your eggs in one basket — and then watch that basket!

—Andrew Carnegie
EXPLORE
It makes sense that if you limit your investments to those situations where you are knowledgeable and confident, and only those situations, your success rate will be very high.

—Joel Greenblatt
EXPLORE
We are value investors because we are persuaded of the logic of buying shares of businesses when others want to sell them, and we understand that lower prices today mean higher future rates of return, and high prices today mean lower future rates of return.

—Bill Miller
EXPLORE
My view is that an investor is better off knowing a lot about a few investments than knowing a little about each of a great many holdings. One’s very best ideas are likely to generate higher returns for a given level of risk than one’s hundredth or thousandth best idea.

—Seth Klarman
EXPLORE
Diversification is a poor substitute for knowledge.

—Martin Whitman
EXPLORE
The whole secret of investment is to find places where it’s safe and wise to non-diversify. It’s just that simple. Diversification is for the know-nothing investor; it’s not for the professional.

—Charlie Munger
EXPLORE
The hard part is discipline, patience, and judgement. Investors need discipline to avoid the many unattractive pitches that are thrown, patience to wait for the right pitch, and judgement to know when it is time to swing.

—Seth Klarman
EXPLORE

The idea that very smart people with investment skills should have hugely diversified portfolios is madness. It’s a very conventional madness. And it’s taught in all the business schools. But they’re wrong.

—Charlie Munger

A well-diversified portfolio needs just four stocks.

—Charlie Munger

One’s knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time, in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence.

—John Maynard Keynes

Sweet are the uses of diversity, but only if you want to end up in the middle of an average.

—The Money Game

Diversification is protection against ignorance. Risk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings.

—Warren Buffett

It is a mistake to think that one limits one’s risk by spreading too much between enterprises about which one knows little and has no reason for special confidence.

—John Maynard Keynes

In small portfolios, I’d be comfortable owning between three and ten stocks.

—Peter Lynch

There’s no use diversifying into unknown companies just for the sake of diversity. A foolish diversity is the hobgoblin of small investors.

—Peter Lynch

The most successful horse players (I guess they lose the least) are the ones who don’t bet on every race but wager on only those occasions when they have a clear conviction.

—Joel Greenblatt

Price is what you pay; value is what you get.

—Benjamin Graham

Usually a very long list of securities is not a sign of the brilliant investor, but of one who is unsure of himself.

—Philip Fisher

In my view, it’s best to own as many stocks as there are situations in which (a) you’ve got an edge; and (b) you’ve uncovered an exciting prospect that passes all the tests of research.

­—Peter Lynch

Good investment ideas — that is, companies that meet our criteria, are difficult to find. When we have found one, we make a large commitment.

—Lou Simpson

There is no sense diluting your best ideas or favorite situations by continuing to work your way down a list of attractive opportunities.

—Joel Greenblatt

Wide diversification is only required when investors do not understand what they are doing.

—Warren Buffett

If you are a professional and have confidence, then I would advocate lots of concentration.

—Warren Buffett

IF YOU INVEST LIKE NO ONE ELSE INVESTS, YOU GET RESULTS NO ONE ELSE GETS!

Concentrated investing implies less risk of permanent loss as long as you maintain superior knowledge about the companies you own.

—Bruce Berkowitz

The single greatest edge an investor can have is a long-term orientation.

—Seth Klarman

The greater the potential for reward in the value portfolio, the less risk there is.

—Warren Buffett

Opportunities come infrequently. When it rains gold, put out the bucket, not the thimble.

—Warren Buffett

It is also a fact that the more stocks you own the less you know about each of them and I have never found a theory of investment that suggests that the less you know about something, the more likely you are to generate superior returns.

—Terry Smith

In the field of common stocks, a little bit of a great many can never be more than a poor substitute for a few of the outstanding.

—Philip Fisher

Hold no more stocks than you can remain informed on.

—Peter Lynch

What an investor needs is the ability to correctly evaluate selected businesses. Note that word ‘selected’: You don’t have to be an expert on every company, or even many.

—Warren Buffett

Patience can produce uncommon profits.

—Philip L. Carret

The theory of scattering one’s investments over as many fields as possible might be the wisest plan on the assumption of comprehensive ignorance.

—John Maynard Keynes

Buying a company without having sufficient knowledge of it may be even more dangerous than having inadequate diversification.

—Philip Fisher

—Warren Buffett

There’s lots of stocks out there and all you need is a few of them. That’s been my philosophy.

—Peter Lynch

Obsession with broad diversification is the sure road to mediocrity.

—John Neff

Diversification is only a surrogate, and usually a poor surrogate, for knowledge, control, and price consciousness.

—Martin Whitman

The disadvantage of having eggs in so many baskets is that a lot of eggs do not end up in really attractive baskets, and it is impossible to keep watching all the baskets after the eggs are put in.

—Philip Fisher

Take extreme care to own not the most, but the best.

—Philip Fisher

Great investors are not unemotional, but are inversely emotional — they get worried when the market is up and feel good when everyone is worried.

—Bill Miller

It is undoubtedly better to concentrate on one stock that you know is going to prove highly profitable, rather than dilute your results to a mediocre figure, merely for diversification’s sake.

—Benjamin Graham

It is often easier to tell what will happen to the price of a stock than how much time will elapse before it happens.

—Philip Fisher

All intelligent investing is value investing — acquiring more than you are paying for. You must value the business in order to value the stock.

—Charlie Munger

You have to have the courage of your convictions. That’s what you are getting paid for. This is the time when you really earn your money.

—Bruce Berkowitz

Diversification is protection against ignorance. Risk can be greatly reduced by concentrating on only a few holdings.

—Warren Buffet

You only have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence. The size of that circle is not very important; knowing its boundaries, however, is vital.

—Warren Buffett

—Peter Lynch

IF YOU INVEST LIKE NO ONE ELSE INVESTS,
YOU GET RESULTS NO ONE ELSE GETS!