Peter Lynch (5) (1944–)

For all of the financial capital under their control, it has always amazed me how anonymous most portfolio managers are. Money management companies (e.g., Fidelity, Putnam, Vanguard) are well-known, but the men and women who actually make the investment decisions typically are not, particularly to non-groupies who don’t stay glued to CNBC. Of course, Peter Lynch is an exception; his performance record while running Fidelity’s Magellan fund was so spectacular that the firm simply could show more not keep him hidden.

This is the first of two books—Beating the Street being the other—that crystallizes his “power of the little guy” investment philosophy. If Ben Graham is the quintessential value investor, Lynch embodies the GARP (Growth at a Reasonable Price) strategy. His straightforward approach is based on two imminently sensible ideas: (1) good, well-run companies with expanding franchises make the best investments over the long run, and (2) individual investors often have an advantage over institutional investors because, as everyday consumers of goods and services, they are in a better position to gather information on the quality of those firms.

Lynch develops these ideas in a practical and approachable manner, usually illustrating his points with examples from his own experience. Although some of these stories feel a little dated by now (e.g., Micron Technology, Service Corporation International), the wisdom inherent in his approach is timeless. He was truly a master at the art of building a stock portfolio from the bottom up and much of that accumulated wisdom is captured in this volume; in fact, the chapter on 'Some Famous Numbers' is worth price of the book alone. show less

Beating the Street is more a biography of Lynch's time at Fidelity (with a few asides about his wife and daughters) than a how-to manual about investing. Still, if you read through the I-did-this-then-I-did-that, you can pick out a few useful tips about choosing stocks. Reading this more than 25 years after publication, I was amused how so many of his "must-have" companies are no longer in business.

Scratch the 'If you bought X in 1958, you would've made Y!' sentences and the 90s-focused political commentary and this is actually a great and timeless book about investing.

This is a short book, but long on advice even, and especially, after the financial meltdown. It took me about 40 - 45 minutes to go through the book, but I'll read it again tomorrow and maybe again next week allowing the content to set in.

The book is a fun read and gives novices, such as myself, some basic fundamentals and concepts before we rush in (again) to lose our money (again) while the big boys rake all the profits (again) in the casino we all know as the stock market. There is no show more specific advice in this book other than to spend as much time researching a stock as you would buying a new refrigerator; however I found the general concepts interesting and informative.

But reader beware, even though the book is short Lynch does get the point across that choosing your own stocks is and making money is a combination of perspiration and luck. I've made the mistake of rushing in to buy a certain stock that was "hot", sometimes it worked out but mostly I lost money. show less