10 Greatest Stock Market Gurus of All Time
Many have made and lost their fortunes on the stock market. Here are ten top investment gurus whose solid strategies have earned them billions.
Benjamin Graham 1894-1976
Ben Graham is the father of two basic stock market disciplines: security analysis, and value investing.
Graham believed that stock market prices were often wrong, because of the emotional factors involved. He developed the concept of “Mr. Market”, an emotional and unstable character, to explain fluctuations in the market.
Mr. Market appears every day in your office, and offers to sell you some stock. One day, he might be hysterical with glee, and the next he’s morose and hopeless. The intrinsic value of the stock doesn’t change, but the price varies with the moods of Mr. Market.
Graham acquired his wealth by targeting undervalued companies. He looked for companies whose stock prices were temporarily down, but whose fundamentals were sound for the long run.
Ben Graham is the mentor of investment guru Warren Buffett, and has influenced several generations of stock market investors.
Warren Buffett b.1930
Also known as the “Oracle of Omaha”, Warren Buffett is the world’s richest man in 2008. He uses a value investing strategy influenced by Ben Graham.
Buffett buys companies as long-term investments, at a discount to their intrinsic value. He stresses the importance of research, and looks for companies with strong management, good potential for long-term return, and an attractive price.
His investment strategy involves discipline, patience and value. While he claims no investment favorites, Buffett is currently interested in family-owned businesses in Europe, and predicts hard times for newspapers.
Buffett owns Berkshire Hathaway, whose first-quarter profit plunged 64% this year, with $991 million in investment losses. In July, Berkshire Hathaway offset the loss by announcing the sale of Anheuser-Busch to a Belgian company for $2.49 billion, earning a profit from the purchase price of 1.9 billion in 2005.
The world’s richest man pays himself a salary of $100,000 a year. It’s a figure that hasn’t changed in twenty-seven years.
Peter Lynch b.1944
Peter Lynch bought into Automatic Data Processing (ADP) and Yum! Brands’ (YUM) Taco Bell, before Wall Street noticed their existence.
Peter Lynch uses a bottom-up approach and concentrates on a company’s fundamentals, instead of listening to market chatter. He invests for the long run, and pays little attention to short-term market fluctuations.
His chameleon investment style adapts with the times, but he relies on core principles. He believes that no one can predict economic fluctuations. Lynch advocates research, and warns against long shots for building wealth.
Kirk Kerkorian b.1917
Kirk Kerkorian turned 91 this year, and has a net worth of $16 billion. Known as the father of the mega-resort in Las Vegas, Kerkorian is a self-made man, who started earning money for his family at age nine. As a young man he learned to box. Under his brother’s tutelage, Rifle-Right Kerkorian fought his way to the Pacific amateur welterweight championship.
