Jason Zweig

Yes, I'm Jason Zweig, and I write the Intelligent Investor column for The Wall Street Journal.

Oh, that's a great question, Ryan.

So I often hear from readers that I'm stupid, so let's take it head on.

It's about judgment.

It's about common sense and independence and skepticism.

Which are harder skills to learn, actually.

They are very difficult to learn.

And I, as time passes, I've come to think of them as virtues rather than skills.

That's correct.

Yeah, that's definitely my view.

And the complications come in because it's boring.

Well, there's a couple reasons.

The first is that the biggest obstacle to long-term investing success is friction.

And that comes from a few different sources.

First, most obviously, is fees.

If you're either buying an actively managed investment or you're picking your own investments, every time you or somebody else trades, you incur those costs, and they can be very substantial, especially over the long term.

Second is taxes.

Every time you trade at a profit,

And you sell.

You've got to pay taxes on that profit.