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‘Finally, while I think I know that everything I’ve just said is correct, the fact is I can’t know that with certainty and that if history has taught us anything, it’s that the majority of things we currently believe are wrong.’
That’s how Jim O’Shaughnessy, chairman and chief investment officer of OSAM LLC, concluded his recent 26-tweet thread of all the things he says he knows and doesn’t know about the stock market over his 30-year career.
The reviews are in, and virtual thumbs are up all over social media.
Jermain Hall says “it’s probably the best thing I’ve read on Twitter in years.” Wayne Anderman calls it “a rockstar thread.” Mme Bouchon claims it should be “required reading for new and experienced investors alike.” And Etherlambos was so appreciative he said he “might create a cryptolambo in your honor.”
In one notable endorsement, Josh Brown of the Reformed Broker blog hails O’Shaughnessy’s tweetstorm as maybe “the greatest Twitter thread of all time” for investors. “There are 26 total tweets, in which he distills 30 years of experience, success, failure and observation about markets and himself,” he tells his 1.08 million followers. “It’s epic and worth your time.”
Here are just a few of the tweets that seemed to resonate most:
3/I DO know that, according to Forbes, “since 1945…there have been 77 market drops between 5% and 10%...and 27 corrections between 10% and 20%” I know that market corrections are a feature, not a bug, required to get good long-term performance.
— Jim OShaughnessy (@jposhaughnessy) May 10, 2018
9/Massive amounts of data have documented that while the world is very chaotic, the way humans respond to things is fairly predictable.
— Jim OShaughnessy (@jposhaughnessy) May 10, 2018
15/I know that, as a professional investor, if my goal is to do better than the market, my investment portfolio must look very different than the market. I know that, in the short-term, the odds are against me but I think I know that in the long-term, they are in my favor.
— Jim OShaughnessy (@jposhaughnessy) May 10, 2018
For the whole thread in an easy-to-read format, click here.
At last check, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was making a play for eight straight sessions in green territory.