How to profit from shares
Learn from the stock market greats
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Jim Slater is probably the UK's most well known private investor. Published in 1992, his book The Zulu Principle was the first that presented British investors with a specific stock market strategy. Alongside refinements published in the follow-up Beyond The Zulu Principle, Slater also devised Really Essential Financial Statistics (REFS), a publication that helps investors locate suitable investment opportunities.
By and large, professional fund managers tend to have a poor reputation. However, a few do stand out. Bill Miller is certainly among the industry's upper echelons. After Miller took charge of US mutual fund Legg Mason Value Trust in 1990 and has beaten the S&P 500 for each of the last fifteen years. His methods are explained in the book The Man Who Beats The S&P: Investing With Bill Miller.
Most people recognise John Maynard Keynes for his contributions to economic theory, most notably the book The General Theory of Employment, Interest and Money. Less well known about Keynes is that, in addition to effectively creating the subject of macroeconomics, he became a very capable stock market investor. Keynes' stock market prowess is shown by his performance at King's College, Cambridge. Between 1927 and 1946, a time when the UK market was broadly flat, Keynes managed to generate a 13% annual return for the College's Chest Fund.
Legendary stock picker Sir John Templeton was first to spot the potential of 'emerging markets'. Having seen it all, done it all, investors will always find solace with Sir John's open-minded and contrarian beliefs. Although Sir John's efforts are now largely devoted to philanthropy and the funding of various scientific studies and theological pursuits, his record and thoughts have survived the test of time. Anybody who'd invested $10,000 in the Templeton Growth fund at its inception in 1954 would have seen it turn into $4m by 1992.
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