Investment Discipline: Making Errors Is Ok, Repeating Errors Is Not Ok.

Many highly paid investment gurus will insist that successful investing is a function of painfully collected experience, expansive research, skillful market timing, and sophisticated analysis. Others emphasize fundamental research about companies, industries, and markets.

Based on thirty years in the investment industry, I say the ingredients for a successful investment portfolio are stubborn belief in the quality, diversification, growth, and long-term principles from Investments and Management 101. Unlike MBA textbooks, which tend to be more theoretical, Investment Discipline provides more practical insight into what works and what does not, based on my own errors and success and includes recommendations of what to repeat and what to avoid.

Investment Discipline contains no secrets and no magic equations. It discusses the most common mistakes and provides advice on how to avoid these errors in order to become a successful investor. It will guide you in your decisions, from setting up your investment objectives, conducting research, and buying/selling securities to adjusting your portfolio to achieve long-term returns that match your personal objectives.

You will learn how to:

- Define your investment profile and your specific objectives;

- Establish a sustainable investment process based on your objectives;

- Analyze information and perform your own research; and

- Make sound investment decisions.

Famous investment professionals, such as Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch, have made mistakes, but they did not repeat them. They held on stubbornly to their investment approach and showed discipline over a long time period, resulting in superior returns. Obviously they were lucky as well; however, they played the numbers right, and over time their performance was better than the performance of their peers.

In Investment Discipline, you will learn how to become a successful, disciplined investor.

RETO GALLATI has held senior executive positions at several Wall Street firms including CRO and Head of Investments. Additionally, he has taught at prestigious universities, including MIT and the University of Chicago and has authored numerous investment publications. He earned his PhD from the University of Zurich. Reto resides in Chicago.