Peter Lynch

Invest in What You Know. Born 1944.

Who he is

Peter Lynch managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990. It returned about 29% a year, roughly double the S&P 500.

Assets grew from $18 million to $14 billion. He retired at 46.

The compounding lesson

Lynch said that far more money has been lost preparing for corrections than in the corrections themselves. Staying invested is what lets compounding happen.

He also warned that many Magellan investors lost money by buying after good years and selling after bad ones.

How he did it

He looked for ordinary companies with growing earnings and paid attention to products he saw in daily life. He called ten fold winners tenbaggers.

He did the work. He visited hundreds of companies a year and read their reports.

What to copy

Know what you own and why. Hold through the noise.

If you will not do the research, buy an index fund. Lynch has said as much.