We’ve gathered together the people who, so far, are considered the best investors in the world and in all of history. Benjamin Graham, author of The Intelligent Investor and Warren Buffett’s teacher, made one message clear: anyone with a brain can make money on the stock market.
It’s worth saying that these are long-term investors, and most of them held on to their shares even during dizzying market falls. Part of their investment strategy has been to buy shares in companies that meet certain value investing requirements at times they considered to be a good buying opportunity.
When a sharp correction came along in the markets, instead of selling and taking profits, what they did was increase their position in that company by buying more shares at cheaper prices.
Warren Buffett sums this up perfectly in some of his advice, where he basically says: if you bought a company for the long term at 20 dollars and in the short term it drops to 10, and it seemed like a good buy at 20, doesn’t buying more at 10 seem like a bargain?
The average annual returns of the best investors in history
1. Peter Lynch
This investor achieved an average annual return of 29.2% over 13 consecutive years.
2. Joel Greenblatt
Over 17 years, his return was 30.8%.
3. Warren Buffett
Over 32 years, an average annual return of 24%.
4. Joseph Piotroski
Over 20 years, an average annual return of 23%.
See also: What an investor learned from losing $1.6 million, his job and his reputation
5. Benjamin Graham
Over 30 years, an average annual return of 17% (not bad at all, considering this investor lived through several financial crises).
6. Jim O’Shaughnessy
Over 42 years, an average annual return of 17.1%.
7. David Dreman
Over 11 years, an average annual return of 16.6%.
8. Martin Zweig
Over 15 years, an average annual return of 15.9%.
9. John Neff
Over 31 years, an average annual return of 13.7%.
Source: Forbes.com
It should be said that at any given moment, any investor can achieve a return of 20–28% (it isn’t normal, but it happens). If that’s already hard to do over 12 months, doing it for 30 years in a row takes a lot of mastery, discipline and, of course, brains. It isn’t hard to get high returns when you catch a market that has fallen and ride the upswing.
The hardest part is sustaining those returns when the market is overvalued and suddenly comes crashing down.
“Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy only when others are fearful.”
