📖John Neff
Market as Your Servant
Use the market as your servant, not your guide.
The market exists to serve you, not to guide you. Use market prices to your advantage — buy when the market offers bargains and sell when it offers premiums.
🏠 Everyday Analogy
📖 Core Interpretation
In Market as Your Servant, John Neff focuses on the gap between price and value. Returns come from paying less than what a business is worth, not from guessing short-term market moves.
💎 Key Insight：The market offers prices; you decide whether they're fair.
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❓ Why It Matters
Ignoring valuation turns even good companies into poor investments. Overpaying compresses future returns and leaves little margin when assumptions are wrong.
🎯 How to Practice
Estimate intrinsic value with conservative assumptions, set clear buy ranges, and act only when price offers a meaningful discount with acceptable downside.
⚠️ Common Pitfalls
Confusing a low price with true cheapness
Using one metric without business context
Overly optimistic assumptions that erase margin of safety
📚 Case Studies
1
Cyclicals After Recession Fears (1990)
During early-1990s slowdown, Neff accumulated beaten‑down cyclical stocks while many investors fled to safety, focusing on solid balance sheets and dividend support.
✨ Outcome：As the economy recovered, these holdings outperformed the market over subsequent years, rewarding long‑term patience.
2
Oil Shock Recession (1973)
Neff bought undervalued cyclical stocks hit by 1973–74 bear market, emphasizing low P/E and strong cash flows despite recession fears.
✨ Outcome：Portfolio declined less than market and rebounded strongly as earnings normalized, demonstrating focus on downside protection via valuation.
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