Jim Simons quotes – Learn from the bests

Jim Simons quotes are the best for inspiration as well as learning. You can learn a great deal about investing techniques, skills, and facts.

If you want to learn from the best, Jim Simons quotes are your best source. Fortunately, we have collected some of his best quotes that will help you learn a lot about investing. Let’s find out what Jim Simons quotes teach us.

Jim Simons introduction

Before heading to Jim Simons quotes, it is important to know who he is. He is a very popular mathematician and a hedge fund manager. Simons is famous for his skills and techniques as a quantitative investor. Simons is not an ordinary mathematician and a hedge fund manager. Rather he is a genius who made his way to the elite group of investors.

Jim Simons served as a mathematics professor from 1968 to 1978. He also served as a chair of the mathematics department at Stony Brook University. In 1982, he embarked on a new journey of establishing his own hedge fund. Yes, you guessed it right. Simons is the founder of the hedge fund Renaissance Technologies. It is one of the most popular and highly successful hedge funds. Systematic trading using quantitative models is the specialty of Renaissance Technologies. Mathematical and statistical analyses provide the foundation for the quantitative models used by Renaissance Technologies. 

Jim Simons’ net worth is currently estimated at $21.5 billion. Moreover, Medallion Fund, Renaissance’s flagship fund, returned more than 35 percent annualized over a 20-year span”. From 1994 through mid-2014 it averaged a 71.8% annual return. This is quite remarkable. These are one of the best records and investment return stats in investing history. 

In short, if you learn from a person like Jim Simons, you are going to turn the odds in your favor. Here are a few widely popular Jim Simons quotes that help you learn a lot.

Jim Simons quotes

1. Constant thinking

“I wasn’t the fastest guy in the world. I wouldn’t have done well in an Olympiad or a math contest. But I like to ponder. And pondering things, just sort of thinking about it and thinking about it, turns out to be a pretty good approach.” – Jim Simons

2. Historical data and past performance

“We search through historical data looking for anomalous patterns that we would not expect to occur at random.” – Jim Simons 

“Past performance is the best predictor of success.” – Jim Simons

“We search through historical data looking for anomalous patterns that we would not expect to occur at random. Our scheme is to analyze data and markets to test for statistical significance and consistency over time. Once we find one, we test it for statistical significance and consistency over time. After we determine its validity, we ask, ‘Does this correspond to some aspect of behavior that seems reasonable?’ – Jim Simons 

3. Trading and investing

“We have three criteria: If it’s publicly traded, liquid and amenable to modeling, we trade it.” – Jim Simons 

“Investing and speech recognition are very similar. In both, you’re trying to guess the next thing that happens.” – Jim Simons

4. Strategies

“I’m ambitious and I like to do things well. I love to create something that really works. We have lots and lots and lots of strategies, and each new one gives me a lot of pleasure, to see something new that works.” – Jim Simons

5. Optimizing trading strategies

“Efficient market theory is correct in that there are no gross inefficiencies. But we look at anomalies that may be small in size and brief in time. We make our forecast. Then, shortly thereafter, we re-evaluate the situation and revise our forecast and our portfolio. We do this all day long. We’re always in and out and out and in. So we’re dependent on activity to make money.” – Jim Simons

6. Developing new trading systems

“The system is always leaking, and we keep having to add water to keep it ahead of the game.” – Jim Simons

7. Price movement patterns

“Patterns of price movement are not random. However, they’re close enough to random so that getting some excess, some edge out of it is not easy and not so obvious-thank God. God probably doesn’t care. Thank whoever.” – Jim Simons 

8. Stock prediction

“One can predict the course of a comet more easily than one can predict the course of Citigroup’s stock. The attractiveness, of course, is that you can make more money successfully predicting a stock than you can a comet.” – Jim Simons

9. Mathematics and science 

“Mathematics and science are two different notions, two different disciplines. By its nature, good mathematics is quite intuitive. Experimental science doesn’t really work that way. Intuition is important. Making guesses is important. Thinking about the right experiments is important. But it’s a little broader and a little less deep. So the mathematics we use here can be sophisticated. But that’s not really the point. We don’t use very, very deep stuff. Certain of our statistical approaches can be very sophisticated. I’m not suggesting it’s simple. I want a guy who knows enough math so that he can use those tools effectively but has a curiosity about how things work and enough imagination and tenacity to dope it out.” – Jim Simons