Barry Ritholtz

Markets are frequently ahead of, and often out of sync with, the economy.

Investing is about making probabilistic decisions with limited information about an unknowable future. The variables are well known, as are the possible outcomes.

Have a well-thought financial plan that is not dependent upon correctly guessing what will happen in the future.

Google's founders have had a good eye for imagining what technologies will be significant in the near future. No one asked Google to develop self-driving cars, but it helped them with street views for Google Maps.

It is important for investors to understand what they do and don't know. Learn to recognize that you cannot possibly know what is going to happen in the future, and any investment plan that is dependent on accurately forecasting where markets will be next year is doomed to failure.

Gains in corporate profits depend in large part on accelerating global economic growth.