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The World's Greatest

Investors
By THE INVESTOPEDIA TEAM Updated October 24, 2021
Table of Contents
Reviewed by MICHAEL J BOYLE
The 11 Greatest Investors
Fact checked by KIMBERLY OVERCAST
Benjamin Graham

John Templeton
The 11 Greatest Investors
Great money managers are like the rock stars of the financial world. The
Thomas Rowe Price Jr.
greatest investors have all made a fortune off of their success and in many
John Neff cases, they've helped millions of others achieve similar returns.
Jesse Livermore
These investors differ widely in the strategies and philosophies they applied to
Peter Lynch
their trading; some came up with new and innovative ways to analyze their
George Soros investments, while others picked securities almost entirely by instinct. Where
Warren Buffett these investors don't differ is in their ability to consistently beat the market.

John (Jack) Bogle

Carl Icahn
Benjamin Graham
William H. Gross

The Bottom Line

Ben Graham excelled as an investment manager and financial educator. He

authored, among other works, two investment classics of unparalleled
importance. He is also universally recognized as the father of two fundamental
investment disciplines—security analysis and value investing.
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The essence of Graham's value investing is that any investment should be

worth substantially more than an investor has to pay for it. He believed in
fundamental analysis and sought out companies with strong balance sheets, or
those with little debt, above-average profit margins, and ample cash flow.

John Templeton

John Templeton

One of the past century's top contrarians, it is said about John Templeton that
he bought low during the Depression, sold high during the Internet boom, and
made more than a few good calls in between. Templeton created some of the
world's largest and most successful international investment funds. He sold his
Templeton funds in 1992 to the Franklin Group. In 1999, Money magazine called
him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century." As a naturalized
British citizen living in the Bahamas, Templeton was knighted by Queen
Elizabeth II for his many accomplishments. [1]

Thomas Rowe Price Jr.

Thomas Rowe Price Jr. is considered to be "the father of growth investing." He
spent his formative years struggling with the Depression, and the lesson he
learned was not to stay out of stocks but to embrace them. Price viewed
financial markets as cyclical. As a crowd opposer, he took to investing in good
companies for the long term, which was virtually unheard of at this time. His
investment philosophy was that investors had to put more focus on individual
stock-picking for the long term. Discipline, process, consistency, and
fundamental research became the basis for his successful investing career.

John Neff
John Neff

CFA Institute
Neff joined Wellington Management Co. in 1964 and stayed with the company
for more than 30 years, managing three of its funds. His preferred investment
tactic involved investing in popular industries through indirect paths, and he
was considered a value investor as he focused on companies with low P/E
ratios and strong dividend yields. He ran the Windsor Fund for 31 years (ending
in 1995) and earned a return of 13.7%, versus 10.6% for the S&P 500 over the
same time span. [2] This amounts to a gain of more than 53 times an initial
investment made in 1964.

Jesse Livermore
jesse livermore, millionaire trader

Topical Press Agency/Stringer/Getty Images

Jesse Livermore had no formal education or stock trading experience. He was a
self-made man who learned from his winners as well as his losers. It was these
successes and failures that helped cement trading ideas that can still be found
throughout the market today. Livermore began trading for himself in his early
teens, and by the age of sixteen, he had reportedly produced gains of over
$1,000, which was big money in those days. Over the next several years, he
made money betting against the so-called "bucket shops," which didn't handle
legitimate trades—customers bet against the house on stock price movements.
[3]

Peter Lynch

Peter Lynch

The LIFE Picture Collection via Getty Images

Peter Lynch managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990, during
which the fund's assets grew from $18 million to $14 billion. [4] More
importantly, Lynch reportedly beat the S&P 500 Index benchmark in 11 of those
13 years, achieving an annual average return of 29%. [5] [6]

Often described as a chameleon, Peter Lynch adapted to whatever investment

style worked at the time. But when it came to picking specific stocks, Peter
Lynch stuck to what he knew and/or could easily understand.

George Soros

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_World_Economic_Forum_Annual_Meeting_2011.jpg

World Economic Forum

George Soros was a master at translating broad-brush economic trends into

highly leveraged, killer plays in bonds and currencies. As an investor, Soros was
a short-term speculator, making huge bets on the directions of financial
markets. In 1973, George Soros founded the hedge fund company of Soros
Fund Management, which eventually evolved into the well-known and
respected Quantum Fund. For almost two decades, he ran this aggressive and
successful hedge fund, reportedly racking up returns in excess of 30% per year
and, on two occasions, posting annual returns of more than 100%.

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett

Warren Buffett (Photo: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Referred to as the "Oracle of Omaha," Warren Buffett is viewed as one of the

most successful investors in history.

Following the principles set out by Benjamin Graham, he has amassed a

multibillion dollar fortune mainly through buying stocks and companies
through Berkshire Hathaway. Those who invested $10,000 in Berkshire
Hathaway in 1965 are above the $165 million mark today. [7] [8]

Buffett's investing style of discipline, patience, and value has consistently

outperformed the market for decades.

John (Jack) Bogle

John Jack Bogle, Vanguard

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Bogle founded the Vanguard Group mutual fund company in 1975 and made it
into one of the world's largest and most respected fund sponsors. Bogle
pioneered the no-load mutual fund and championed low-cost index investing
for millions of investors. He created and introduced the first index fund,
Vanguard 500, in 1976. Jack Bogle's investing philosophy advocates capturing
market returns by investing in broad-based index mutual funds that are
characterized as no-load, low-cost, low-turnover, and passively managed.

Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn

Carl Icahn is an activist and pugnacious investor that uses ownership positions
in publicly held companies to force changes to increase the value of his shares.
Icahn started his corporate raiding activities in earnest in the late 1970s and hit
the big leagues with his hostile takeover of TWA in 1985. Icahn is most famous
for the "Icahn Lift." This is the Wall Street catchphrase that describes the
upward bounce in a company's stock price that typically happens when Carl
Icahn starts buying the stock of a company he believes is poorly managed.

William H. Gross

Smithsonian's National Postal Museum

Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum

Considered the "king of bonds," Bill Gross is the world's leading bond

fund manager. As the founder and managing director of the PIMCO family of
bond funds, he and his team have more than $1.92 trillion in fixed-
income assets under management. [9]

In 1996, Gross was the first portfolio manager inducted into the Fixed-Income
Analyst Society Inc. hall of fame for his contributions to the advancement of
bond and portfolio analysis. [10]

The Bottom Line

As any experienced investor knows, forging your own path and producing long-
term, market-beating returns is no easy task. As such, it's easy to see how these
investors carved a place for themselves in financial history. 

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