Reply #46: Market. Shmarket.

[ozymandius]

Never invest money that you are not prepared to lose.

Let me re-phrase that.

Never invest money that you are not prepared to lose by legitimate means. Say you invest in coach whips. But nobody is buying coach whips so your investment falls flat. Going... going.. gone.

But if you give a lump sum to a money manager to invest in a coach whip manufacturing company but then he turns around and buys himself liquor and prostitutes with it...

I am always amazed at how much reputation is everything in this business. Evermore amazing is how some can rehabilitate their reputations like Michael Milken. At the age of seventy Madoff does not have time to rehabilitate anything. He will be known as a ponzi operator and seller of crap forever. That former reputation was earned by those who were, as you say, solid and savvy investors. They right now are probably saying, "After fifty years you think you know a guy..."