Essential takeaways from The Intelligent Investor 1. Keep your emotions in check To invest successfully, you don’t need a high IQ or unusual business insights. What you need is a good strategy that allows you to make intelligent decisions and keep your emotions in check. 2. It’s about discipline and courage How your investments perform in the short term is much less important than how you behave. Have a lot of discipline and courage and don’t let other people’s mood swings influence you. 3. Be contrarian The intelligent investor is a realist who sells to optimists and buys from pessimists. Buy stocks when there is blood in the streets. “The intelligent investor should recognize that market panics can create great prices for good companies.” – Benjamin Graham 4. Have a financial plan It’s not important whether you are beating the market. It’s important to have a financial plan that will get you where you want to be. 5. Bear markets offer opportunities The sillier the market behavior, the greater