Top 6 Bill Ackman Quotes for Successful Investment

William Albert Ackman is an American investor and a hedge fund manager. He is a founder and CEO of Pershing Square Capital Management. Usually, he bets against popular companies by going short and buying stocks when they are not popular. His first rule of activist Investing is to 'make a bold Call that nobody believes in.' Ackman's most popular Market play include shorting MBIA's Bonds during the financial crisis of 2007–2008.

From 2012 to 2018, Ackman held a US$1 billion short against a company called Herbalife. After a weak performance in 2015–2018, he told investors on January 2018 that he was going to go back to basics by ending investor visits as it was taking his time, and hunkering down in the office to do research. As a result of these changes, Ackman's firm Pershing Square returned 58.1% in 2019, which qualified as "one of the world’s best performing hedge funds" for 2019 by Reuters. As on Feb 2020, Bill Ackman's Net worth was $1.5 billion.

Bill Ackman Covid Trade 2020

On March 18, 2020, Ackman's emotional interview with CNBC caught the eye of the people. It also resulted in a "30-day shut down" which was announced by President Trump in order to stop the spread of Coronavirus and minimize the loss of life. He also cautioned U.S. companies to stop stock buyback programs because “hell is coming.”

Ackman hedged Pershing Square's Portfolio, risking $27 million to purchase credit protection ahead of the 2020 stock market crash - just to insure the portfolio against steep market losses. Interestingly, the hedge was effective and generated $2.6 billion in less than one month.

6 Best Investment Wisdom From Bill Ackman

1. “I’m not emotional about investments. Investing is something where you have to be purely rational and not let emotion affect your decision making – just the facts.”

Market Volatility can panic some investors, and they can become fearful about the prospects for their portfolios. Ackman suggests that investors need to ignore their emotions, rather use logic when making investment decisions. You need to make a sound judgment about picking a stock. This is only possible when you do the right research.

Focus on the facts – not your emotions. Emotions always hamper your chances of making profits. So, keep it aside and take practical steps towards investments.

2. “Investing is a business where you can look very silly for a long period of time before you are proven right.”

Buying a stock and experiencing a loss over the short run should not concern investors who have a long-term view. If the company’s financial outlook suggests that it continues to be a sound investment, how it performs over a matter of weeks or months is largely irrelevant.

Ackam conveys that, experiencing a loss over a short-term shouldn’t be your concern, rather you should focus on long-term returns. If you are confident about a company’s long-term growth and your research, then continue your investment.

Also, it is ok to go against the herd and be a lone ranger. For a long-term successor, it’s natural to want to stick together for safety. If you want to beat the market, then be confident about your research and go your own way.

This may look silly to many people. It takes a while for the market to catch on.

3. ''If I believe that I am right, I will take it to the end of the earth until I am proven right.”

Bill believes in having the conviction to embrace the stocks you are investing. As an investor, he has a robust belief in his theory that will definitely lead to success. Thus, one should be very confident about their investment. Quality research is required to learn strategies and be successful in the market. Try different strategies in the market until you succeed.

4. “Experience is making mistakes and learning from them.”

A key to becoming a jack of all trades in the market can be gained by experience and knowledge. You should avoid past mistakes and learn from them. In the market, experience is a major quality that will help you conquer the market. To put it simply, experience leads to success.

5. “You can learn investing by reading books.”

Reading is a good habit to learn new things. To become a good investor, Ackman suggests investors to conduct proper due diligence before making any investments. You can learn new investing strategies and techniques by reading books, annual reports, etc. Start off by investing a minimal amount to get a practical experience of investing.

6. “Short-term market and economic prognostication is largely a fool’s errand, we invest according to a strategy that makes the need to rely on the short-term market or economic assessments largely irrelevant.”

Ackman explains how predicting the future Economy and market performance can be tempting for some investors. However, this may be unproductive, since it is impossible to accurately predict economy’s prospects. Instead, focusing on analyzing company fundamentals could be a more efficient use during a volatile period for the economy.