John Maynard Keynes
In a 1934 letter, Keynes said: “As time goes on, I get more convinced that the right method in investment is to put fairly large sums into enterprises which one knows something about and in the management of which one thoroughly believes.”
Warren Buffett
Buffett looks for companies that not only generate profits consistently but are able to reinvest them in the business. Not all companies do this; even if they make profits, they may squander them by using the money to expand into less lucrative areas.
Best quote: “Only buy something that you’d be perfectly happy to hold if the market shut down for 10 years.”
Sir John Templeton
First, he believed in buying at a time of extreme pessimism, when most people would instinctively avoid the stock market.
Best quote: “The only way to avoid mistakes is not to invest — which is the biggest mistake of all.”
Benjamin Graham
After losing money in the great crash of 1929, he decided to look for shares whose prices offered a “margin of safety” – where the value of the company’s assets exceeded the value placed on it by the stock market.
Like Buffett and Templeton, Graham believed in going against the crowd. “Buy when most people, including experts, are pessimistic, and sell when they are actively optimistic,” he said.
Best quote: “In the short run the market is a voting machine, but in the long run it is a weighing machine.”
Peter Lynch
He believed that ordinary investors could steal a march on the professionals by using their eyes and ears in everyday life. “I stumble on to the big winners in extracurricular situations,” he says. “Apple computer – my kids had one at home, and then the systems manager bought several for the office. Dunkin’ Donuts – I loved the coffee.”
Lynch didn’t just go straight out and buy the shares, but used these insights as a basis for further research.
Best quote: “Invest in what you know.”
The easy way to invest like the gurus
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/pers ... gurus.html