Top Ten Greatest Investor Quotes and Best Investment Philosophy Reviewed

Choosing the top ten investors can be very subjective. Do we measure the wealth accumulated in pure monetary terms? Do we consider certain markets on investments only? Which countries or cultures? For this purpose we look at the top 10 investors post the industrial revolution that have shown longevity. Criteria includes being unique, lifestyle (that is not just money), have a philosophy that can be understood, have invested consciously and morally and ethically (to the best of our knowledge).

There have been many great traders over the past thirty years such as John Paulson and Jim Rogers that may become known as great investors. For now we differentiate between traders and investors by longevity of the investment and success of the individual. The great financial crash of 2008 has found many wanting and has been a great rinse in finding our top ten investors and their quotes.

Warren Buffet has been lauded by many for his value investing and been dubbed the oracle of Omaha. Buffett is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Berkshire Hathaway. A $10,000 investment in Berkshire Hathaway in 1965 would be worth around $60 million dollars today. Buffett is ranked as the second richest man in the United States with an estimated net worth of $40 billion.Something the indebted nations oft he world could take not of is his frugal nature in these times of austerity. This is despite his billions. Compare this to the millions who live on credit card debt alone. A lesson here on investing for sure.

Buffett is also a philanthropist pledging to give away 85 percent of his assets to the Gates Foundation. In 2007 Time magazine named Buffett as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. His rules are logical and pretty simply, espoused by his fugal outlook on life. Perhaps his most pronounced is never invest in a business you cannot understand. He also avoids companies that are debt laden. Though one may question how hard line this is given his insurance and investments and the fallout since sub prime there. However the advice is sound and logical, sticking to it is the hardest.

Famous Quotes by Warren Buffett

• “The first rule is not to lose. The second rule is not to forget the first rule.”
• “If past history was all there was to the game, the richest people would be librarians.”
• “Risk comes from not knowing what you’re doing.”
• “Look at market fluctuations as your friend rather than your enemy; profit from folly rather than participate in it.”

Many of you may be familiar with the Rockefeller family name through conspiracy theories on the new world order, Freemasons or Bildebergers. This all stems from John D. Rockefeller who was an American industrialist who founded Standard Oil Co. until he retired in 1897. His carryon has a legend of its own. He was America's premier billionaire and the worlds richest man. He achieved his wealth and power by using stronghold practices and monopolies as the oil industry started.

Eventually Standard oil would be broken up into Exxon and the other American oil majors. He is remembered as a prudent investor for not giving up, perseverance and ambition. All great stuff for any ongoing conspiracy theory.

Quotes by John D. Rockefeller on Investing

• “If you want to succeed you should strike out on new paths, rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.”
• “I do not think there is any other quality so essential to success of any kind as the quality of perseverance. It overcomes almost everything, even nature.”
• “The person who starts out simply with the idea of getting rich won’t succeed; you must have a larger ambition.”
• “I always tried to turn every disaster into an opportunity.”

• “The way to make money is to buy when blood is running in the streets.”

George Soros is a man who draws mixed emotions because of his political comments in his latter years. His life is a great lesson in opportunity and discipline though, for mine the difficulty is describing as an investor or trader. Perhaps he is best described mix of both. Soros fled Hungary in 1947 and went on to graduate from the London School of Economics in 1952. In 1956 he immigrated to the United States where he built what would go on to be his investment philosophy at the New York firms of F.M. Mayer (1956-59), Wertheim & Co. (1959-63) and Arnhold & S. Bleichroeder (1963-73). In 1973 he formed the hedge fund company of Soros Fund Management which morphed into the Quantum Fund.

The Quantum Fund returned 30% per annum for around 20 years. By 1990 he had steeped away from the Quantum Fund management and concentrated on philanthropy with his Open Society Foundation. His life can be summed up in his won words, "I would like to be called a financial, philanthropic and philosophical speculator." This was how he described himself when receiving an honorary degree from Oxford University. His style is taking economic trends with a short-term speculator bent taking advantage of market chaos.

Quotes by George Soros on Investing

• "It's not whether you're right or wrong that's important, but how much money you make when you're right and how much you lose when you're wrong."
• "I rely a great deal on animal instincts."
• "Playing by the rules, one does the best he can, irrespective of the social consequences. Whereas in making the rules, people ought to be concerned with the social consequences and not with their personal interests."

• Once we realize that imperfect understanding is the human condition, there is no shame in being wrong, only in failing to correct our mistakes.
• If investing is entertaining, if you’re having fun, you’re probably not making any money.
• "George opened all of our thinking to macroeconomic theory, and he made globalists of us all by making us understand the importance of geopolitical events on the U.S. economy." (Byron Wien, Morgan Stanley)

Sir John Templeton is admired for his gentlemanly demeanor and his astute investing. In 1954 he launched the Templeton Growth Fund. His key difference was he was amongst the first to recognize global investments. From 1954 until 1992 when Templeton retired annual returns averaged 15%. Sir John Templeton sold his funds firm to the Franklin Group in 1992.

Templeton investment decisions on fundamental analysis with many of his best investments classic contrarian investments. In 1987 Sir John Templeton received a knighthood for philanthropy with a highlight the Templeton Prize (1972) and the John Templeton Foundation (1987).

Sir John Templeton Quotes

• " The four most expensive words in the English language are, 'This time it's different.'"
  

• " High ethics and religious principles form the basis for success and happiness in every area of life"

• "The main focus in my life now is to open people's minds so no one will be so conceited that they think they have the total truth."

• "Work at being a humble person."

• "Diversify your investments."

• Bull-markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria
• If you are not egotistical, you will welcome the opportunity to learn more.

While on the topic of conspiracy theories with the Rockefellers J. P. Morgan is right up there given his part in the establishment of the private company known as the U.S. Federal Reserve. Back in the day J.P.Morgan was THE Banker. He arranged the merger of Edison General Electric and Thompson-Houston Electric Company to form General Electric in 1892, and also merged several steel and iron companies into the United Steel Corporation in 1901.US Stell was the first billion dollar company in the world.

Morgan was involved and recognized all the new industries of the day, railroads tycoons and energy resources. One wonders how he would have fared in the internet and biotechnology age, I am sure he would smelt the deal out. He is famous by the bottom of the 1929 crash an d then being integral to the establishment of the US Fed and JP Morgan has been a part of that entity from that day on. With those action he achieved absolute power and wealth in the fiance sector.

Quotes by J. P. Morgan on Investing

• "A man always has two reasons for doing anything, a good reason and the real reason."
• "Go as far as you can see; when you get there, you'll be able to see farther."
• "If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it."
• "No problem can be solved until it is reduced to some simple form. The changing of a vague difficulty into a specific, concrete form is a very essential element in thinking."
• "Well, I don't know as I want a lawyer to tell me what I cannot do. I hire him to tell how to do what I want to do. "
• "When you expect things to happen - strangely enough - they do happen."

Bill Gross was born in Middletown, Ohio in 1944 and perhaps has had a better handle on investing for and by middle America than most. His opinion can determine Central Bank policy. His investment decisions move markets. He began with Pacific Mutual Life Insurance Company and went on to found the Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) in 1982 and the PIMCO family of bond funds. PIMCO has over $700 billion in fixed-income assets under management.

He is now the world's foremost bond investor and the "king of bonds". In 1996, he was the first portfolio manager inducted into the Fixed-Income Analyst Society Inc. (FIASI) hall of fame. Gross's great investing hallmark is how quickly he recognizes change and will change an investment strategy. Psychology is a major part of markets and is key in Gann and Elliott Wave analysis and indeed with Soros and Rogers trading psychology. Gross is also a key studier of psychology.

Gross graduated from Duke University graduate with a degree in psychology in 1966. He also spent a summer playing professional blackjack in Las Vegas. His discipline was formed by his stint in the US Navy during the Vietnam war. From their he came back to get an MBA from University of California, Los Angeles.

Gross makes his decisions on three- to five-year forecasts to avoid the destructive "emotional whipsaws of fear and greed." saying "such emotions can convince any investor or management firm to do exactly the wrong thing during irrational periods in the market."

Quotes by Bill Gross on Investing

• "Those who fail to recognize the structural elements of the investment equation [asset allocation, diversification, risk-return measurements and investing costs] will leave far more chips on the table for other more astute investors to scoop up than they could ever imagine."
• "Finding the best person or the best organization to invest your money is one of the most important financial decisions you'll ever make."
• "Do you really like a particular stock? Put 10% or so of your portfolio on it. Make the idea count … Good [investment] ideas should not be diversified away into meaningless oblivion."
• "The genius of Bill Gross, from the gaming tables to the high-tech world of bond trading, is his knowing, quantifying and playing risk." ( Timothy Middleton, "The Bond King")
• "Bill often has been characterized as the Peter Lynch of the bond markets. But based on his longevity … and the size of his assets under management … it would be more appropriate to characterize Peter Lynch as the Bill Gross of the equity markets." (Jack Malvey, Lehman Brothers, 1996)

Peter Lynch is the name often associated with mutual funds. Peter Lynch began managing the Fidelity Magellan Fund in 1978. He began with fund assets of 20 million dollars by his 1990 retirement the Fidelity Fund assets were 14 billion dollars. Bu 2011 it is well over 50 billion dollars in assets.

The Peter Lynch investment style evolved with market changes. Consistently his decisions were based on profitability, price and a good business model for companies. He also sticks investing in what he knows and believes in being fully investing with no idle cash.

Quotes by Peter Lynch on Investing

• “Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth-grade math, you can do it.”
• "Go for a business that any idiot can run – because sooner or later, any idiot probably is going to run it.”

• Peter Lynch's Check the key numbers.
  1. If you are excited by a particular product or service, ensure that it accounts for a sufficient percentage of total company sales and that it makes a significant contribution to profits.
  2. Favor companies with a strong cash position
  3. Favor companies with a forward PE ratio well below their forecasted EPS growth rate
  4. Avoid companies with high debt-to-equity ratios.
  5. Avoid slow growers and cyclical stocks.

If you are a fan of Warren Buffet then it would be prudent to studyBenjamin Graham and his fundamental investment disciplines of security analysis and value investing. Benjamin Graham was Warren Buffet's mentor. “Security Analysis“ and “The Intelligent Investor“ are two books that will help any fundamental stock investor.

John Train said calls Benjamin Graham one of the "The Money Masters of Our Time" and "ranks as this century’s most important thinker on applied portfolio investment, taking it from an art, based on impressions, inside information, flair, to a proto-science, an orderly discipline.

Graham looked for “Margin of Safety” that is the value of companies trading below their intrinsic value with strong sales, dividends and little debt.

Quotes by Benjamin Graham on Investing

• “To achieve satisfactory investment results is easier than most people realize; to achieve superior results is harder than it looks.”
• “The one principal that applies to nearly all these so-called “technical approaches” is that one should buy because a stock or the market has gone up and one should sell because it has declined. This is the exact opposite of sound business sense everywhere else, and it is most unlikely that it can lead to lasting success in Wall Street. In our own stock-market experience and observation, extending over 50 years, we have not known a single person who has consistently or lastingly made money by thus “following the market.” We do not hesitate to declare that this approach is as fallacious as it is popular.”

Sir James Goldsmith was a Franco-British corporate raider way ahead of his time. He was born into a wealthy banking family and amassed a personal fortune of around $2.5 billion. He established Mothercare, Grand Union, Cavenham Foods plc and Cavenham Forest Industries. In America his raid on Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company caused Congressional hearings on takeovers. With outstanding foresight he sold his investments before the October 1987 crash.

He was a man who knew how to manage money, maintaining three families and homes in four countries. Sir James personal life was a tabloid dream, he openly maintained three families with had homes in London, Paris, Bordeaux, Spain and an 18,000-acre estate in Mexico.

His personal life was no less eventful. He had eight children with four women and openly maintained three families. He had homes in London, Paris, Bordeaux, France, Spain and an 18,000-acre estate on the Pacific coast of Mexico. He was knighted by Britain in 1976 and became a knight of the Legion of Honor by France in 1978. He will be remembered as a man who lived on his terms

Quotes by James Goldsmith on Investing

• “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.”

• ''I am, if you like, a Cassandra. I have always looked at the downside because the upside looks after itself.''

• “Tolerance it a tremendous virtue, but the immediate neighbors of tolerance are apathy and weakness.”
• “If you see a bandwagon, it's too late.”
• "When a man marries his mistress it creates a job opportunity"

He was knighted by Britain in 1976 and made a knight of the Legion of Honor by France in 1978.

Charles Saatchi is known as one of the great art investors. His influence can make or break an artist. His fortune was made in advertising. His largest influence has been seen in British, American and Chinese contemporary artists. His strategy appears to buy en-mass and effectively control an artist’s market. He also will sell in multiple works, more as a trader rather than a collector would.

This strategy has made him unpopular with artists, the most renowned is Damien Hirst who effectively pushed the market up for. In 2003 most of his Hirst works back to Hirst and his dealer. Hirst described Mr Saatchi as “childish” after this “only recognises art with his wallet”. Ego clearly getting in the way of thanks for his patron despite making him rich and the world’s most-expensive living artist,

The Royal Academy Keeper Professor Maurice Cockrill has said Mr Saatchi had the "Midas touch when it came to art" He added “His buying immediately puts values up. If it’s just a sale to Joe Bloggs, saying you have got a work in Joe Bloggs’s collection, it doesn’t carry much weight.” “Charles Saatchi’s purchase makes others think that if [an artist] has drawn his attention, there must be some future in that artist. He associates with winners. Losers are not in his sights.”

Charles Saatchi Quotes on Investing

• "There are no rules about investment. Sharks can be good. Artist’s dung can be good. Oil on canvas can be good. There’s a squad of conservators out there to look after anything an artist decides is art."
• "Being a good artist is the toughest job you could pick, and you have to be a little nuts to take it on. I love them all."
• "Obviously, if you do what I do you are going to end up making people sometimes happy and sometimes unhappy. I cannot, nor would I want to, buy everything I see, so I have to make decisions about what I like. I like to keep my collecting fresh, and I think people have got the message."
• "No, of course I'm not in it for the money. I make a lot of money from the stuff I sell, but then I pay incredibly high prices for the things I want. That's how I get what I like. The market is so insane. "
• "The art critics on some of Britain’s newspapers could as easily have been assigned gardening or travel, and been cheerfully employed for life."
• "I don’t buy art in order to leave a mark or to be remembered; clutching at immortality is of zero interest to anyone sane."