“Investing is simple, but (it’s) not easy” means that it’s simple enough to buy or sell, but it’s not easy to follow the markets regularly and apply the correct strategy for each situation. “The ‘how’ of real estate investing is simple to understand but not easy to implement” was cited in print in 1990. “Yes, successful investing is simple. But it isn’t easy” was written in the book Eight Steps to Seven Figures: The investment strategies of everyday millionaires and how you can become wealthy, too (2001) by Charles B. Carlson.
 
“As Warren Buffett said: ‘Investing is simple. But it’s not easy’” was cited in print in 2002. American investor Warren Buffett is often credited with the saying, but there’s no evidence to show that he used it first.
 
 
Google Books
Nothing Down for the 90’s:
How to Buy Real Estate with Little Or No Money Down
By Robert G. Allen
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1990
Pg. 42:
The “how” of real estate investing is simple to understand but not easy to implement. It takes commitment, dedication, time, and effort.
 
Google Books
Common Sense on Mutual Funds:
New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor
By John C. Bogle
New York, NY: John Wiley
1999
Pg. 105:
My approach to investing is simple in concept, hut it is far from easy in implementation.
 
Google Books
Eight Steps to Seven Figures:
The investment strategies of everyday millionaires and how you can become wealthy, too
By Charles B. Carlson
New York, NY: Doubleday
2001
Pg. 5:
Yes, successful investing is simple. But it isn’t easy. Doing one sit-up is simple. Doing one sit-up every day for the rest of your life may be simple, but it isn’t easy.
     
The Motley Fool
Don’t Buy Sector Mutual Funds
By Tom Jacobs (TMF Tom9)
October 1, 2001
(...)
There is a simple rule for investing in stocks. Either you have the time, energy, and expertise to learn about individual companies—their management, financials, products, and prospects—or you don’t. If you do, gather information from as wide a variety of places, ranging from the required reading of the company’s latest SEC Form 10-K, your investment club, and stock discussion boards (exercising great critical faculties about what you read, as always), as possible. Identify a limited selection of stocks reflecting your financial goals and tolerance for risk, and buy them. We’ve never said it was easy, but it is simple.
 
Google Groups: misc.invest.mutual-funds
Buy and hold is ridiculous
.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
12/17/02
(...)
As Warren Buffett said: “Investing is simple. But it’s not easy.”
 
Google Books
Warren Buffett Wealth:
Principles and Practical Methods Used by the World’s Greatest Investor
By Robert P. Miles
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2004
Pg. 164:
Investing is simple, but it’s not easy.
 
Google Groups: news.admin.net-abuse.sightings
[email] New! Save Up to 35% on Our New Stock Book
Larry Kilgallen, LJK Software
1/6/04
(...)
Then I know our new book, The Five Rules for Successful Stock Investing, is for you.
 
But judge for yourself. Read what author Pat Dorsey says in the introduction:
 
“Successful investing is simple, but it’s not easy.”
       
Behavior Gap
The Simplicity Premium
MARCH 25, 2009
One of the concepts bouncing around in my head for years is that many of the most important things in life are simple but not easy.
 
Financial planning is simple. Investing is simple. But they are not easy.
 
There really are only a few things that you have to get right (simple), but because there are so many ways to get it wrong, it seems complex.
 
It’s simple, but not easy.
 
The Wall Street Journal
You Should Have Timed the Market
B Brett Arends
Updated Sept. 29, 2010 12:01 a.m. ET
(...)
Naturally, going against the crowd is easier said than done. That’s why the best professional investors like to say that successful investing is “simple, but it isn’t easy.”
     
Google Books
The Clash of the Cultures:
Investment vs. Speculation
By John C. Bogle
Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
2012
Pg. 322:
Yes, investing is simple. But it is not easy, for it requires discipline, patience, steadfastness, and that most uncommon of all gifts, common sense.
 
It’s All About Money
Investing is simple, but not easy
August 5, 2013 by Modan Saha
Behavioural mistakes we make while investing, and how to avoid them
Most of us understand the simple truths of investing. Haven’t we been told not to hold on to losing positions for too long, or told not to panic and sell when the market corrects 10% in a single day? Although the basic rules of investing are simple enough to understand, following them can be quite tough. In the words of Warren Buffet, “Investing is simple, but not easy.”
 
Wealth Wise Advisors
Investing is simple but not easy
May 4, 2014   Blogwealthwiseadmin
(...)
Investing is simple if you follow the right tenets! However, you need patience and the ability to shut out those 24X7 business channels, know-all financial analysts and the glossy advertising! And that in this hyper-connected world is anything but easy!
 
Business News Network (BNN)
“Successful investing isn’t easy, but it is simple”
Frances Horodelski, Anchor
8:54 AM, E.T. | June 24, 2014
“Successful investing, according to an old saying on Wall Street, isn’t easy, but it is simple” – in an article describing the rules of investing of the next Warren Buffett.