---
title: ▍The Most Overlooked Trait of Investing Success
created: 2026-06-28
modified: 2026-06-28
authors: Morgan Housel
category: Essay
---

> The most overlooked trait of investing success is communicating to your clients the softer and emotional side of investing. A knowledge of market history. An acceptance of volatility as a normal part of investing. That you can be wrong on half your investments and still do well over time.

> Becoming a better doctor means spending more time managing patients rather than managing patients’ illnesses. […] Just as in medicine, making good decisions is not the same thing as convincing your clients to make good decisions.

> We talk about invest**ment** management firms, but we don’t really talk about invest**or** management firms. For anyone who’s in the portfolio management business, managing your investors is at least as important as managing your investments. There is a reason why value stocks tend to outperform over the long run … <mark>the whole reason they work in the long run is because they fail in the short run</mark>.