The 10 Best Investors In History [Updated List]
Most investors who jump into the exciting world of the stock market have the same objective: to beat the market in the long term and achieve returns. However, throughout history, very few have managed to obtain satisfactory results and far fewer have achieved extraordinary returns for a long time, which has earned them to catapult themselves as the best investors in history.
10 Best Investors In History
1. Warren Buffett
For the vast majority of experts, Warren Buffett (1930) is one of the Best Investors In History. Known as the Oracle of Omaha, his hometown, the returns he has made through his investment company, Berkshire Hathaway, are unmatched in any historical moment.
Specifically, Buffett has achieved an average annual return by subtracting reinvested dividends of 13% for 55 years, using what some call the best investment strategy in the stock market: Value investing.
His excellent results have served him to appear prominently in the ranking of the greatest fortunes in the world that Forbes magazine periodically publishes, year in and year out.
His annual conferences, held in Omaha, together with his partner Charlie Munger, have become a pilgrimage site for many value investors who try to replicate or, at least, get closer to the results of the good Warren.
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2. Charlie Munger
Second, on our list of The 10 Best Investors In History, the Inseparable companion of Warren Buffet, Charlie Munger (1924) follows. He rose to fame as the vice president of Berkshire Hathaway.
It is estimated that Munger reached an annualized average profitability of 19.8% per year between 1962 and 1975, a period during which Dow Jones appreciated an average of 4.9% per year.
Obviously, the key to his success is explained, as in the case of Buffett, by his ability to find companies based on the quality of the business and its competitive advantages. A value approach that has also made him enter the Forbes list of the richest people in the world, although far from his partner in fatigue.
3. Benjamin Graham
Benjamin Graham (1894-1976) is considered the father of value investing. Warren Buffett himself recognized that Graham was the one who provided him with a solid intellectual framework for investment, providing him with the financial foundation that has served him to become what he is today.
Broadly speaking, Graham spent part of his time carefully analyzing the financial status of companies that were attractive to him, identifying the target price based on its real value.
One of his books, The Smart Investor, is considered the bible of value investing, and his philosophy and investment style are still replicated by millions of investors around the world.
4. Peter Lynch
The fame of Peter Lynch (1944) is mainly due to his time as manager of the Fidelity Magellan Fund. Between 1977 and 1990, Lynch achieved, through this fund, an annualized return of 29.2% and, under his control, the fund managed more than 14,000 million dollars, compared to just over 2 million with that started.
In addition, Lynch can boast of having written some of the most famous and best-selling investment books in the world.
In “One Step Ahead of Wall Street”, his best-known best seller, Lynch explains his investment philosophy in a simple and adapted way for all audiences.
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5. John Bogle
Although John Bogle (1929-2019) is not strictly an investor, his influence on the basis of the investment is not in dispute, at least as they were understood until the 1970s.
He revolutionized the mutual fund industry, laying the foundations for the passive management that has been so fashionable in recent years.
In 1974 he founded Vanguard, which is currently the second-largest manager in the world in terms of assets under management, behind only Blackrock.
A year later, he founded the first index fund in history, avant-garde and revolutionary idea in its time that democratized access to investment for small savers and changed the industry forever.
6. Philip Arthur Fisher
Phillip Fisher (1907-2004) is considered the father of growth investment, a strategy that is based on investing in those companies that have strong growth potential in the medium and long term.
His philosophy was based on looking for good growth opportunities with excellent expansion prospects.
In particular, Fisher focused on technology companies, and more specifically, those companies with wide profit margins and that spent good amounts of money on research and development.
7. John Templeton
If John Bogle is the father of index funds, John Templeton (1912-2008) is regarded as the creator of modern mutual funds.
His maxim in investment was to apply, as far as possible, the strategy of buying low and selling high, thus maximizing profitability.
In 1954 he created Templeton Funds, an American investment company whose strategy was defined by globalization and diversification. He stood out for choosing those assets from different countries to have a sufficiently diversified portfolio, something that in his time was not something so easy or usual.
In fact, he was one of the first investors to select stocks from the Japanese market as a North American.
8. George Soros
He is one of the best-known names on this list, although more than an investor, Georges Soros (1930) has stood out as a speculator.
In 1992, in his best-known and most relevant operation, Soros made £1 billion in a single day, Black Wednesday, holding a large short position on the pound, forcing the Bank of England to devalue its value.
In addition to his enormous success speculating on the value of currencies, Soros has been at the helm of the Quantum mutual fund, achieving an average annual return of more than 30% during the time he was managing it.
9. Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn (1936) is a leader in corporate activism. He was remembered for leading a hostile takeover of TWA Airlines.
He is considered one of the most successful investors in value investing, although his philosophy went a bit further: invest in undervalued companies if you perceive that they have a low price due to poor management of the same.
In addition, the objective of buying shares was not only to obtain good returns but to be part of the boards of directors of the companies to change the executives for other people who believe will make the company more successful.
10. Walter Schloss
Wrapping up our top 10 Best Investors In History – Walter Schloss (1916-2012) was one of Benjamin Graham’s most distinguished disciples. It obtained an average annualized return of 15.3% for 50 years, beating the market with solvency, which had only achieved 10% if we take into account the average return of the S&P 500 Index in the United States.
He was a faithful believer in diversification, having more than 100 different stocks, far from being a concentrated portfolio. His philosophy was rather quantitative, focusing solely on numbers, unlike others like Buffett, who took a more qualitative approach.
Now that you know the best investors in the world, we hope you can take advantage of their methods and get a good income for yourself.
