Strategies of Successful Investors

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For a golfer looking to improve his game, it can be useful to study the top golfers’ strategies and methods. Investors can, in much the same way, learn from the “money masters”, the top group of the most successful investors. You might not have their resources or years of experience, but understanding their philosophies can help you in your own approach to investing.

Think Like an Owner, Not Like a Trader
This philosophy is as commonsense as the investor who is so famous for following it: Warren Buffett. Any list of the most successful investors of all time has to include the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and he’s typically at the top of the list. The Oracle of Omaha is well-known for his down-to-earth approach to sizing up investment opportunities.

Buffett invests in businesses however (not stocks), and prefers those with consistent earning power and little or no debt. He also looks at whether a company has an outstanding management team. Buffett attaches little importance to the market’s day-to-day fluctuations; he has been quoted as saying that he wouldn’t care if the market shut down completely for several years. However, he does pay attention to what he pays for a business; as a value investor, he may watch a company for years before deciding to buy. And when he buys, he makes a big play and plans to hang on to his investment for a long time.

Don’t Forget That Markets Can Be Irrational
George Soros feels that markets can be irrational. However, rather than dismissing the ups and downs, the founder of the legendary Quantum Fund made his reputation by exploiting macroeconomic movements. He once made more than $1 billion overnight when his hedge fund speculated on the devaluation of the British pound.

Soros believes in capitalizing on investing bubbles that occur when investors feed off one another’s emotions. He is known for making big bets on global investments, attempting to profit from both upward and downward market movements. Such a strategy can be tricky for an individual investor to follow. However, even a buy-and-hold investor should remember that market events may have as much to do with investor psychology as with fundamentals, and use that information to your advantage. You probably wouldn’t apply Soros’s philosophy in the same way he does, but nonetheless it can be a valuable lesson to remember.

Use What You know; Know What You Buy
During his 13-year tenure at Fidelity Investments’ Magellan Fund, Peter Lynch was one of the most successful mutual fund portfolio managers in history. He subsequently wrote two best-selling books for individual investors.

If you want to follow Lynch’s approach, stay on the alert for investing ideas drawn from your own experiences. His books contend that because of your job, your acquaintances, your shopping habits, your hobbies, or your geographic location, you may be able to spot up-and-coming companies before they attract attention from Wall Street. However, simply identifying a company you feel has great potential is only the first step. Lynch did thorough research into a company’s fundamentals and market to decide whether it was just a good idea or a good investment.

Lynch is a believer in finding unknown companies with the potential to become what he called “ten baggers” (companies that grow to 10 times their original price), preferably businesses that are fairly easy to understand.

Make Sure the Reward is Worth the Risk
Perhaps the best-known bond fund manager in history, the co-founder of PIMCO Bill Gross makes sure that if he takes greater risk – for example, by buying longer-term or emerging-market bounds – the return he expects is high enough to justify that additional risk. If it isn’t, he says, stick with lower returns from a more reliable investment. Because bonds have historically returned less than stocks and therefore suffer more from high inflation, he also focuses on maximizing real return (an investment’s return after inflation is taken into account).

Choose a Sound Strategy and Stick To It
Even though all these investors seem to have different approaches, in practice they’re more similar than they might appear. Each of their investing decisions has specific, well-thought-out reasons behind it. They rely on their own strategic thinking rather than blindly following market trends. And they understand their chosen investing disciplines well enough to apply them through good times and bad.

Work with your financial planner to determine a strategy that matches your financial goals, time horizon, and investing style.