He didn't recommend a single stock – and yet he became a legend during his lifetime. Kostolany managed to explain the stock market with quick wit and humor. He died 25 years ago.
He called himself a speculator. And this job was the best in the world. For over 70 years, André Kostolany invested his money on the stock market, speculated. He also speculated badly. His credo was: “The stock market can go down, but if you don't have the securities when they go down, you won't have them when they go up.” What does this credo mean for everyday trading today?
Insights like these cannot be valued highly enough. Kostolany recognized the psychology of the markets, the importance of emotions for stock market transactions, very early on and very clearly. “This brings us to another bon mot: the most difficult thing for a stock market trader is when the stock market rises and you are not involved,” says stock market expert Stefan Risse. “That is worse than when you have shares and the stock market falls. Then you lose money, but you have the feeling that everyone else is losing too.”
“Sleep for a few years”
Stefan Risse met André Kostolany in the 1980s. Risse was still a student at the time. He later wrote books with Kostolany and accompanied him until the end of his life. Much of the knowledge he gained back then is still relevant today, says Risse.
He is particularly moved by one of Kostolany's insights: “Go to the pharmacy, buy sleeping pills, buy blue chips and sleep for a few years. And then you will wake up and experience pleasant surprises, even if it was stormy in between.”
His sayings hit the nerve of the times
André Kostolany became famous with quips like these. His secret was simplicity, wrapped up in metaphors – to the point. That struck a chord with the times and fascinated many people.
Today's stock market experts like Robert Halver from Baader Bank are also among them. “I followed him for years. For me, he was the person who put me on my career path. He was a fine character. I once saw him at a lecture. He answered all my questions. He is actually to blame for my career.”
Stock market wisdom wrapped in an alliteration
For Halver, Kostolany's famous “four Gs” are still valuable today: money, thoughts, patience and luck: “By patience, Kostolany meant holding on to shares, even if prices fall in the short term. You should speculate with your own money, never on credit. Third point, thoughts: He was an advocate of knowing what you have in your portfolio and not buying because the general public is buying. And last but not least, luck: that is also part of stock trading.”
About: André Kostolany
He was a stock market and financial expert, speculator, speaker, author and entertainer. Born on February 9, 1906 in Budapest, he was the fourth child of a wealthy family. Kostolany studied art history and philosophy and then did an apprenticeship with the stockbroker Adrien Perquel in Paris. The stock market fascinated him from an early age, and so Kostolany himself became a broker and consultant in Paris. In 1940 he fled to the USA to escape the Nazis. After returning to Europe, he founded his own asset management company in Germany, gave lectures and wrote books about the stock market. Kostolany died on September 14, 1999 in Paris. Well-known works by him include “The Art of Thinking About Money”, “Wisdom of a Speculator” and “Money, the Great Adventure”.
“I am not infallible”
Kostolany gave lectures, wrote columns and books – was in demand and celebrated as a “stock market guru” and “stock market pope”. Stefan Risse reports that Kostolany did not see himself that way. He said: “I am definitely not a stock market guru, not a stock market pope. Because a guru or a pope is infallible, and I am not infallible. I don't know what tomorrow will bring, but I know what is today and what was yesterday, and many of my colleagues don't even know that.”
André Kostolany was the most prominent stock market expert of his time – without any social media or internet. He is still present in the stock market world today, says Stefan Risse: “No one else has managed to explain the stock market with such images like Kostolany, which has made him immortal.”
André Kostolany died 25 years ago.
