FOOD FOR THOUGHT; PETER LYNCH

I have always felt that the best way to appreciate a profession or a vocation is by trying to familiarize oneself with the lives of people who have made a mark in the profession. The same holds true for Stock Markets and investors. In an earlier Post (SEE THIS) I had attempted to draw inspiration from some of the thoughts voiced by the legendary Warren Buffett and my effort was well received by the Readers of this Blog. Carrying on the effort, in this Post we shall familiarize ourselves with another great Investor- PETER LYNCH.

-Born in Massachussets in 1944, and educated at the Boston College followed by an MBA from Wharton, Peter Lynch is best known for his trail blazing stewardship of the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990. During this period the Assets of the Fund grew from 20m Dollars to 14b Dollars and it is said that Peter Lynch beat the Benchmark S&P 500 by a mile in 11 of those 13 years, delivering an Average Annual return of 29% !!!!!

- Peter Lynch is known in Investment Circles as the 'Chameleon', which was a true reflection of his flexible and nimble investment style. He applied a list of 8 principles to his stock picking method which he himself described as follows:
     

Know what you own.

It's futile to predict the economy and interest rates.

You have plenty of time to identify and recognize exceptional companies.

Avoid long shots.

Good management is very important - buy good businesses.

Be flexible and humble, and learn from mistakes.

Before you make a purchase, you should be able to explain why you're buying.

There's always something to worry about.

His quotes were always incisive and I am reproducing a few for the benefit of interested Investors:

-"Go for a business that any idiot can run – because sooner or later, any idiot is probably going to run it."


-"If you stay half-alert, you can pick the spectacular performers right from your place of business or out of the neighborhood shopping mall, and long before Wall Street discovers them."


-"Investing without research is like playing stud poker and never looking at the cards."


-"Absent a lot of surprises, stocks are relatively predictable over twenty years. As to whether they're going to be higher or lower in two to three years, you might as well flip a coin to decide."


-"If you spend more than 13 minutes analyzing economic and market forecasts, you've wasted 10 minutes."


Now retired, PETER LYNCH continues to inspire investors the world over.



More on WARREN BUFFETT HERE