{"id":430,"date":"2021-05-01T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-01T15:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/?p=430"},"modified":"2025-04-20T07:47:55","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T23:47:55","slug":"john-maynard-keynes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/","title":{"rendered":"John Maynard Keynes, Investment master"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_82_2 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<div class=\"ez-toc-title-container\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<span class=\"ez-toc-title-toggle\"><a href=\"#\" class=\"ez-toc-pull-right ez-toc-btn ez-toc-btn-xs ez-toc-btn-default ez-toc-toggle\" aria-label=\"Toggle Table of Content\"><span class=\"ez-toc-js-icon-con\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #ffffff;color:#ffffff\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/#Why_is_Keynes_worth_studying\" >Why is Keynes worth studying?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/#Buffetts_evaluation_of_Keynes\" >Buffett&#8217;s evaluation of Keynes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/#Keyness_famous_quote\" >Keynes&#8217;s famous quote<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/#Find_stunners\" >Find stunners<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/#One_of_my_most_respected_investment_guru\" >One of my most respected investment guru<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/#Related_Works_by_Keynes\" >Related Works by Keynes<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/#Related_articles\" >Related articles<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_is_Keynes_worth_studying\"><\/span><strong>Why is Keynes worth studying?<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Keynes is the most respected master of overall economy in modern times. The main economic policies of modern countries are almost all implementing Keynes&#8217;s theory, but few people know that he is also a very successful investor. When he was young, Keynes was proud of his talents and adopted a speculative investment method, and did not accept long-term investment or value investment. After many years of losses, he learned from the pain, determined to completely change the arrogant and indiscreet investment methods in his youth, and moved closer to the long-term value-added investment methods that he thought were more reasonable and proved through his own practical experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Buffetts_evaluation_of_Keynes\"><\/span><strong>Buffett&#8217;s evaluation of Keynes<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In his 1988 Letter to Berkshire Hathaway\u2019s shareholders, Buffett stated that \u201cKeynes \u2026 began as a market-timer (leaning on business and credit-cycle theory) and converted, after much thought, to value investing.\u201d In his 1991 Letter, Buffett enthused that Keynes\u2019s \u201cbrilliance as a practicing investor matched his brilliance in thought.\u201d&nbsp; <a href=\"https:\/\/eic.cfainstitute.org\/2014\/10\/20\/keynes-the-investor-lessons-to-be-learned\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Buffett also suggested that investors must read Keynes&#8217;s famous book &#8220;The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money&#8221; Chapter 12<\/a>. Buffett believes that the importance and weight of this chapter is comparable to Chapters 8 and 20 of Graham&#8217;s &#8220;The Intelligent Investor&#8221; book.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Keyness_famous_quote\"><\/span><strong>Keynes&#8217;s famous quote<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Regarding investment, Keynes has made countless famous sayings. The following are some of the most admired golden sentences:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cIt is better to be roughly correct than to be precise.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>About forecast, he said \u201cWe simply don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cIn the long run&nbsp;<em>we<\/em>&nbsp;are all dead,\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>There are two major uncertainties in the market: speculation and the animal instincts of human nature, that is, people\u2019s &#8220;involuntary impulses&#8221;. They are not determined by basic rationality and knowledge, and cannot be calculated by mathematical formulas.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Successful investing is anticipating the anticipations of others.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cA careful selection of a few investments (or a few types of investment) having regard to their cheapness in relation to their probable actual and potential intrinsic value over a period of years ahead and in relation to alternative investments at the time.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&nbsp;\u201cWell-managed industrial companies do not, as a rule, distribute to the shareholders the whole of their earned profits. In good years, if not in all years, they retain a part of their profits and put them back into the business. Thus, there is an element of compound interest operating in favor of a sound industrial investment. Over a period of years, the real value of the property of a sound industrial is increasing at compound interest, quite apart from the dividends paid out to the shareholders.\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;One&#8217;s knowledge and experience are definitely limited and there are seldom more than two or three enterprises at any given time in which I personally feel myself entitled to put full confidence.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;The difficulty lies not in the new ideas but in escaping from the old ones.&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;When the facts change, I&nbsp;change my mind. What do&nbsp;you&nbsp;do?&#8221;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;Even apart from the instability due to speculation, there is the instability due to the characteristic of human nature that&nbsp;a large proportion of our positive activities depend on spontaneous optimism rather than mathematical expectations, whether moral or hedonistic or economic.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Find_stunners\"><\/span>Find stunners <span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In the final phase of his investment career, Keynes focused on identifying \u201cstunners \u201d \u2014 those stocks which offered \u201cintrinsic values . . .enormously in excess of market price.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Financial investment is like a beauty pageant. In a beauty pageant where many beautiful women participate, if you guess who can win the championship, you can get a big prize. According he wrote &#8220;It is not a case of choosing those [faces] that, to the best of one&#8217;s judgment, are really the prettiest, nor even those that average opinion genuinely thinks the prettiest. We have reached the third degree where we devote our intelligences to anticipating what average opinion expects the average opinion to be. And there are some, I believe, who practice the fourth, fifth and higher degrees.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"One_of_my_most_respected_investment_guru\"><\/span><strong>One of my most respected investment guru<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>I myself admire Keynes very much, especially his investment history and the transformation process of investment methods from early speculation to later value investing. It is extremely rare that he is one of the few academic person who can achieve outstanding results in investment; it is worthwhile for interested investment friends to spend some time to  learn about Keynes&#8217; investment methods. <\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"144\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/Keynes_1933-1600x1200-1.jpg\" alt=\"Keynes\" class=\"wp-image-9038\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Credit: Wikimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading has-medium-font-size\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_Works_by_Keynes\"><\/span><strong>Related Works by Keynes<\/strong><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are some books related to Keynes\u2019 investment in the market, which are listed below for your reference:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/General-Theory-Employment-Interest-Money\/dp\/1573921394\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The General Theory of Employment, Interest, and Money<\/a>&#8221; by Keynes <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;The Art of the Deal&#8221;, collection of Keynes articles,  published in China only<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Keyness-Way-Wealth-Investment-Economist\/dp\/0071815473\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Keynes&#8217;s Way to Wealth<\/a>&#8221; by&nbsp;John Wasik<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Investing-Keynes-Economist-Overturned-Conventional\/dp\/1643137565\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Investing with Keynes<\/a>&#8221; by Justyn Walsh<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Keynes-Market-Economist-Overturned-Conventional\/dp\/047028496X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Keynes and Market<\/a>&#8221; by Justyn Walsh<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Keynes-Market-Economist-Overturned-Conventional\/dp\/047028496X\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Keynes Mutiny<\/a>&#8221; by Justyn Walsh<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Related_articles\"><\/span>Related articles<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/09\/27\/imitating-fastest-effective\/\">Imitating great investors is the fastest and most effective way<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2024\/05\/11\/jim-simons-pass-away\/#google_vignette\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Jim Simons, the lord of quantitative investing<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/24\/investment-masters\/\">How to research successful investment masters?<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2023\/01\/14\/irr-of-investment-masters\/\">The career annualized return on investment of top investment masters<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2022\/04\/07\/buffett-deserves-study\/\">Why Buffett deserves further study<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/07\/27\/warren-buffetts-ground-rules\/\">The Chronicle of Buffett Partners &#8220;Warren Buffett&#8217;s Ground Rules<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/05\/01\/john-maynard-keynes\/\">John Maynard Keynes, Investment master<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2025\/04\/19\/keyness-investment\/\">Keynes&#8217; investment principles and achievements<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/2021\/06\/05\/one-up-on-wall-street\/\">&#8220;One Up on Wall Street&#8221;, Peter Lynch&#8217;s great book for investing newbie<\/a>&#8220;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Disclaimer<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>The content of this site is the author\u2019s personal opinions and is for reference only. I am not responsible for the correctness, opinions, and immediacy of the content and information of the article. Readers must make their own judgments.<\/em><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><em>I shall not be liable for any damages or other legal liabilities for the direct or indirect losses caused by the readers&#8217; direct or indirect reliance on and reference to the information on this site, or all the responsibilities arising therefrom, as a result of any investment behavior.<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Investment master John Maynard Keynes, Keynes is the most respected master of overall economy in modern times. The main economic policies of modern countries are almost all implementing Keynes&#8217;s theory, but few people know that he is also a very successful investor. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9038,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42,1151,8,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-430","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-john-maynard-keynes","category-compound-interest","category-investing-books","category-buffett"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35853,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430\/revisions\/35853"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9038"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.granitefirm.com\/blog\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}