Weekend: The 10 Maxims of Successful Investing

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Weekend: The 10 Maxims of Successful Investing By Steve Christ | Saturday, June 25th, 2011 Welcome to the Wealth Daily Weekend Edition — our insights from the week in investing and links to our most-read Wealth Daily and sister publication articles. For Sir John Marks Templeton, the road not taken really did make all the difference in the world. Contrarian to the core, the legendary investor literally became a billionaire by "avoiding the herd". He bought low and sold high, always working against the grains of extreme bullish and bearish sentiment on Wall Street. He pursued those strategies by buying up companies, and even nations, when the streets were the bloodiest, snapping up rock bottom bargains along the way. It was at these moments of what he called "points of maximum pessimism" that Templeton began to stir. True to form, as the herd made the bum's rush for the exits, Templeton began to wade in. Going Long on Pessimism To his credit, that included one of his most daring plays. As the U.S. was still mired in The Great Depression and the war drums in Europe began to beat, Templeton borrowed enough money to dive into the U.S. markets back in the dark days of 1939. With a war chest of $10,000, Templeton bought 100 shares in every single company that was trading for less than a dollar a share on the New York Stock Exchange. That bought him shares in 104 companies, including 34 that were already in bankruptcy. In the end though, only four of them turned out to be worthless, while Templeton's intial investment grew to $40,000 in over just a four year period. That was essentially the start of long and successful career spent wrestling both the bulls and the bears. Not long after, he became a billionaire by pioneering the use of globally diversified mutual funds. Established in 1954, his Templeton Growth Fund grew at an astonishing rate of nearly 16% a year until Templeton’s retirement in 1992, handily beating the Standard & Poor's gains of 11.1%. With dividends reinvested, each $10,000 invested in the Templeton Growth Fund at its inception would have grown to $2 million by 1992, before it was sold to the Franklin Group. Advertisement 60 Minutes Reports on Growing Body Parts Call it what you want: biotechnology, tissue engineering, cell therapy, regenerative medicine. The famous newsmagazine has reported on one doctor about to make multiple medical problems disappear forever. Lucky for you, that same doctor sits on the board of a $3.00 company that will bring these solutions to market — making shareholders rich in the process. Check out the 60 Minutes clip to learn the name. A fundamentalist by nature, Templeton's overall investment thesis was pretty simple: it was to "search for companies around the world that offered low prices and an excellent long-term outlook." More often than not, that included areas of the world other investors had completely overlooked, most notably post-war Japan. Templeton was not only one of the first investors to place bets there, he was also one of the first investors to sell out as the Japanese bubble peaked in the mid-1980's. Likewise, his timing couldn't have been better in the late 1990's. At the height of the Internet bubble Templeton predicted 90% of the new Internet companies would be bankrupt within five years. Confident in that prediction, he went short dozens of technology companies, making himself over $80 million in a matter of weeks. He later called it "the easiest money I ever made." As a result of such a long and profitable career, Money magazine dubbed him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century” in 1999. One of the great philanthropists of all time, he also left behind a wealth of investment advice for stock pickers at every level. Templeton's 10 Maxims He called them Templeton's 10 Principles for Successful Investing. They included the following: Invest for real returns: “The true objective for any long-term investor is maximum total real return after taxes.”  Keep an open mind: “Never adopt permanently any type of asset or any selection method. Try to stay flexible, open minded and skeptical. Long term top results are achieved only by changing from popular to unpopular the types of securities you favour and your methods of selection.” Never follow the crowd: “If you buy the same securities as other people, you will have the same results as other people. It is impossible to produce superior performance unless you do something different from the majority. Buying when others are despondently selling and selling when others are greedily buying requires the greatest fortitude and pays the greatest reward.” Everything changes: “Bear markets have always been temporary. And so have bull markets.”  Avoid the popular: “When any method for selecting stocks becomes popular, you will need to switch to unpopular methods.” Learn from your mistakes: “'This time is different' are among the most costly four words in market history.” Buy during times of pessimism: “Bull markets are born on pessimism, grow on skepticism, mature on optimism and die on euphoria. The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy, and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.” Search worldwide: “To avoid having all your eggs in the wrong basket at the wrong time, you should diversify. When you search worldwide, you find more better bargains than when you monitor only one nation. You also benefit from more safety thanks to diversification.” Hunt for value and bargains: “Too many investors focus on outlook and trend. Therefore, more profit is made by focusing on value. In the stock market the only way to get a bargain is to buy what most investors are selling.” No-one knows everything: “An investor who has all of the answers doesn't even understand the questions.” Of course, those aren't the only words of wisdom Templeton had to offer. He also once said, "It's nice to be important, but it is more important to be nice." Templeton passed away in July 2008 at the age of 95. As for some places to start building a lifetime of wealth, our editors have put together a few of their best ideas for the years to come in this week's top-read articles from Wealth Daily and Energy & Capital, below. Have a great weekend. Your bargain-hunting analyst, Steve Christ Editor, Wealth Daily   The June Swoon: How to Survive the Next Crash Take a fat red pen and circle June 30, 2011, on your calendar. That's the day that QE2 ends. Editor Luke Burgess tells you what you should buy to avoid the coming economic meltdown. The Biotech Sector: The Biggest Thing Since the Internet In search of "the next big thing", editor Steve Christ explains why advances in biotechnology will be the biggest thing since the Internet. NFL Lockout Stocks: Get Your Piece of the NFL's Billions... Analyst Ian Cooper entertains speculation of an NFL lockout decision within days, and offers two ways to trade it. Mongolia Hates Good News: One More Ten-Bagger in UlaanBaatar Editor Christian DeHaemer explains why the upside catalysts in Mongolia remain as strong as ever and how his Crisis & Opportunity subscribers have earned a 1058% return on one stock, and a 434% percent return on another. A Solar Energy Overview: Forecasts, Trends, and Companies In only a few years' time, the solar market has gone from "That stuff'll never work" to a billion-dollar acquisition target of the biggest oil companies in the world. Editor Nick Hodge explains why this sector is still undervalued. Stealing OPEC Profits: How They're Taking a Piece OPEC's Trillion Dollar Pie Energy and Capital editor Keith Kohl explains why OPEC's trillion dollar profits are in danger. The Next Big Crash: How Human Behavior Will Govern the Coming Downturn A little history, and a critical chart from Editor Adam Lass. Both show how and when the market will crash Forget the Feds: Everybody's Got Problems, Here are the Solutions Editor Christian DeHaemer explains how the government has failed you and why you should stop waiting for the Federal government to take care of you. Ethanol Subsidies: The Great Ethanol Scam of 2011 Editor Jeff Siegel asks the question: In what universe does it make sense to allow a transportation fuel to use up nearly 40 percent of your primary food crop??? Another scam exposed... Revolutionary Profits: A Look at the New Frontier in Medicine Editor Steve Christ discusses tissue engineering and explains why today's breakthroughs will usher in a new era of medicine. What you learn could get you in on the ground floor of a fortune. Refer a Friend to Wealth Daily

Related Articles Ben Graham's Winning Investment Advice Peter Lynch's Stock Market Investment Advice Wealth Daily Blogs Rare Earth Crisis Out of Hand Prices are still exploding... Muddy Waters Charged? Some one's not too happy... Shiller: "There has never been a bust of this proportion" The gift that keeps on giving.... Economic Releases for the week of Monday, June 27th, 2011: Jun 27 - Personal Income and Spending Jun 28 - Case-Shiller 20-city Index Jun 29 - Pending Home Sales Jun 30 - Chicago PMI Jul 01 - Construction Spending Jul 02 - Auto and Truck Sales Jun 28 - Consumer Confidence Jul 01 - Nonfarm Private Payrolls Jul 01 - Michigan Sentiment Jul 01 - ISM Index Jun 29 - MBA Mortgage Index You May Also Enjoy... The Next Bull Market 2011-06-23 - Steve Christ Get Your Piece of the NFL's Billions... 2011-06-22 - Ian Cooper Human Behavior Governs Exactly When the Coming Downturn Happens 2011-06-21 - Adam Lass Everybody's Got Problems, Profit from the Solutions 2011-06-20 - Christian A. DeHaemer Wealth Daily's Weekend Edition 2011-06-19 - Steve Christ

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