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To: robert a belfer who wrote (41273)	1/30/2011 4:42:00 PM
From: Paul Senior	1 Recommendation Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78621

That quote you mentioned is likely is a relevant quote, because it's still used by many people to justify very concentrated (one or two stock?) portfolios. Interesting that Mark Twain, who penned the quote, was himself an avid but very unsuccessful investor. His concentrated investments in a supposed technology gizmo of the time, and his big bet on a mine (apparently salted by unscrupulous promoters) were possible contributors to a result that caused him to go bankrupt. I wonder if the quote was his acknowledgment that he attributed a lot of his failure to not checking out and following his investments more closely. hubpages.com

To: robert a belfer who wrote (41273)	1/30/2011 5:50:38 PM
From: Jurgis Bekepuris	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 78621

Well, no intrusion if there is more to it than just quote. :) Because if it's just a quote, then IMHO it's useless. Once you (or someone else) elaborates, we can have a discussion. (I like what Paul said, BTW. ;)) For example, how do you decide on the basket? I assume your quote does not imply that any basket (stock/company) is fine as long as you watch it. Cause that's obviously wrong. ;) So there has to be a decision on basket not mentioned in the quote. OK, so now you used some way to select the basket. How do you watch it then? Do you talk to the management? Other investors? Competitors? Analysts? Do you read financial numbers? Technicals? Then, watching presumably is also not enough. If bad things happen, you have to do something with the basket. Maybe you can repair it - if you're an active investor. Switch to another basket? When and how? Somehow the simple approach in the quote does not seem so simple anymore, does it?