The 10 Most Significant Investors of All Time

I’m sure your list will have a few that I haven’t mentioned, but some of these will turn up on everyone’s list.

1. Benjamin Graham – Fund Manager and Columbia University Lecturer, known as the “father of value investing,” literally wrote “the” book on investing, “The Intelligent Investor.” Warren Buffett, who was Graham’s student, calls it “the best book about investing ever written,” From 1936 to 1956, Graham’s average annualized investment performance was 20%.
2. Warren Buffett – The Oracle of Omaha and leader of Berkshire Hathaway is thought by many to be the greatest investor ever. He (together with Charlie Munger) turned a textile company into a value investing energy, insurance, and industry dynamo. Berkshire shares have seen an average annual return of 20.0% compared to the S&P 500’s 10.2% gain during that period since 1965.
3. Charlie Munger – Thought of by some as Berkshire’s “other guy,” this polymath is said by insiders to be much brighter than Buffett, including Buffett’s son. Being each other’s devil’s advocate and sounding board, much of Buffett’s and Berkshire’s returns are due to Munger’s guidance.
4. Mohnish Pabrai –Pabrai admits he learned everything he could from Buffett and copied his investing style.  This strategy has certainly worked; from 2000 to 2018, his flagship hedge fund returned an unbelievable 1,204 percent versus 159 percent for the S&P 500 index.
5. Carl Icahn – The famous 70’s and 80’s corporate raider is still investing, infamous for being an activist investor, finding companies with an underlying value that were mismanaged and, through often hostile takeovers, boosting their share price. : Since 1968, Icahn has annualized returns of 31%. For comparison, Icahn has created $65 to every $1 created by Buffett.
6. Sir John Templeton – Leading his self named Templeton Growth Fund, Templeton provided his investors over 15% annualized returns for 38 years while managing from the Bahamas. Templeton was known as a contrarian investor going against the flow and seeking investments in emerging markets when the potential in the west was not sufficient.
7. John(Jack) Bogle – Founder of the Vanguard Group, began his commission-free mutual fund eliminating 3rd party brokerages and the first S&P 500 following Vanguard 500 index fund in 1975. This low fee strategy has allowed many to invest in the stock market and obtain diversified returns.
8.  Cathie Wood – The ARK invest CEO stays on the edge of new trends and technology with several actively managed ETFs totaling more than $50 billion that focus on disruptive tech. The largest of which, the ARK Innovation ETF (NYSE: ARKK), has seen 39% annualized returns from 2014 to 2021, three times that of the S&P 500.  
9. Chamath Palihapitiya – An early Facebook executive, started his Social Capital Fund in 2011. He finds tech companies such as Opendoor Tech, Clover, and Virgin Galactic and brings them public with the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) format. Combined, Social’s 12 SPACs have increased in value by 137%.
10. Peter Lynch – Another 80’s investing superstar, led the Fidelity Magellan fund from 1977 to 1990. In this time, the fund’s assets grew from $20million to 14 Billion, and Lynch beat the S&P 11 of the 13 years producing an annualized return of 29% for his investors. During the same periods, Lynch produced better returns than even Buffett his heyday

Though many are different, the one trait that all these investors have is an uncanny mastery of an investing approach. They found what they are good at, and they capitalized on that skill. Using this skill to find growth stocks, value stocks, companies that could be better managed, or companies that will change business as we know it has allowed them to succeed.

If you’re pondering this situation, whether to invest all at one, please feel free to reach out to me at Chase Thomas chtomas@alphawealthfunds.com and I’ll be happy to discuss it and possibly show you better strategies to accomplish your goals.