What you can learn from the movie “Wall Street”

If you are truly in investing, you surely have to know the movie Wall Street with Michael Douglas and Charlie Sheen. This is one of my favorite movies about investing. For those of you, who have not seen it yet, here comes a quick review.

Bud Fox (Charlie Sheen) is a Wall Street stockbroker in the early 1980’s with a strong desire to get to the top. Working for his firm during the day, he spends his spare time to get a job from the high-powered, extremely successful (but ruthless and greedy) broker Gordon Gekko (Michael Douglas). Fox finally meets with Gekko, who takes him under his wing and explains his philosophy that “Greed is Good”. Taking the advice and working closely with Gekko, Fox soon finds himself swept into a world of “yuppies”, shady business deals, the “good life”, fast money, and fast women. Something which is at odds with his family including his estranged father (Martin Sheen) and the blue-collared way Fox was brought up.

So, what can you actually learn from this movie? There are lots of interesting quotes in it. Just take a look and make your own opinion.

Quotes from Gorden Gekko

I loved it at 40, it’s an insult at 50. They’re analysts, they don’t know preferred stock from livestock, alright? When it hits south, we raise the sperm count on the deal.

Hope you’re Intelligent.

This is the kid. Calls me 59 days in a row, wants to be a player. Oughta be a picture of you in the dictionary under ‘Persistence’, kid.

Now, listen, Jerry, I’m looking for negative control. Okay? No more than 30, 35 percent. Just enough to block anybody else’s merger plans and find out from the inside if the books are cooked. If it looks as good as on paper, we’re in the kill zone, pal. Lock and load.

Lunch? Aw, You gotta be kidding. Lunch is for wimps.

What the hell is Cromwell doin’ givin’ a lecture tour when he’s losing 60 million a quarter? Guess he’s giving lectures on how to lose money. Jesus Christ…if this guy owned a funeral parlor, no one would die! This turkey is totally brain-dead! OK, alright, Christmas is over, and business is business. Keep on buying, dilute the son of a bitch! Ollie, I want every orifice in his fucking body flowing red.

Blow ‘em away, Ollie. Rip their fucking throats out. Stuff ‘em in your garbage compactor.

Bud Fox, I look at a hundred deals a day. I choose one.

I don’t like losses, sport. Nothing ruins my day more than losses. Now you do good, you get perks, lots and lots of perks.

The most valuable commodity I know of, is information

The public’s out there throwin’ darts at a board, sport. I don’t throw darts at a board - I bet on sure things.

Every battle is won before it’s ever fought. Think about it.

You ever wonder why fund managers can’t beat the S&P 500? Because they’re sheep, and sheep get slaughtered.

And if you need a friend, get a dog. It’s trench warfare out there pal.

You see that building? I bought that building ten years ago. My first real estate deal. Sold it 2 years later, made an 800,000 dollar profit. It was better than sex. At the time, I thought that was all the money in the world; now it’s a day’s pay.

You work hard? I’ll bet you stayed up all night analyzing that dogshit stock you gave me, huh? where’d it get you? My father, he worked like an elephant pushing electrical supplies and he dropped dead at 49 with a heart attack and tax bills.

Money never sleeps, pal. Just made 800,000 Hong Kong Gold, it’s been wired to ya. Play with it. You done good, but you gotta keep doing good. I Showed you how the game works, now school’s out.

The point is, ladies and gentlemen, that greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right. Greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms - greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge - has marked the upward surge of mankind, and greed - you mark my words - will not only save Teldar Paper but that other malfunctioning corporation called the USA. Thank you.

More quotes on Wikiquote. And now, do not forget to watch the movie