Chapter 8. Our Bill of Commandments

When we talk about the Ten Commandments of Bill O'Neil, it is important to understand that we do not mean commandments that were issued directly by him, like Moses coming down from the mount with two stone tablets etched by the hand of God. For us, these "commandments" are more subjective, in that what we are referring to is a compilation of some of our favorite but less obvious rules and principles for life and the markets that Bill O'Neil conveyed to us on a daily basis, outside of what is found in his books and seminars. Our trading diaries are filled with scores of essential lessons that we have found can apply to life as easily as they apply to the stock market. Anyone who has spent over 50 years in an industry that sits at the hub of global enterprise, as Bill O'Neil has, will have certainly learned a few things about dealing with people, dealing in business, and dealing with all the moving parts of life in general. For the purpose of passing such information on to the reader, we find it simplest to distill these down to some basic ideas, concepts, rules, and principles that we can simply label the Ten Commandments of Bill O'Neil.