The Hindu Business Line : Investment nuggets

He started his investment career during the Second World War being convinced that a war generally creates an increase in demand and business activity. He bought a number of different scrips that were trading below 1$ at that time and sold them at a return of 300 per cent in four years.

He was also among the early investors to have recognised the potential in the Japanese stock markets and to have taken a position there in the early 1960s, which then turned out to be the most dynamic market in 1990.

Templeton has distilled his principles of investment success into maxims, which still act as the basis of his firm’s culture and share selection process:

Invest for real returns

Keep an open mind

Learn from your mistakes

Consider avoiding the popular

Buy during times of market pessimism

Hunt for value and bargains

Search worldwide

Below are some of the golden nuggets from him:

“The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.”

“I never made money for clients by buying anything expensive.”

“The only investor who should not diversify is the one who is right 100 per cent of the time.”

“For those properly prepared in advance, a bear market in stocks is not a calamity but an opportunity.”

“If you buy the same securities as other people, you will have the same results as other people... To buy when others are despondently selling and to sell when others are greedily buying requires the greatest fortitude and pays the greatest reward.”

“Bear markets have always been temporary. And so have bull markets...”

“...Too many investors can spoil any share selection method or any market timing formula.”

“History shows that time, not timing, is the key to investment success. Therefore, the best time to buy stocks is when you have money.”

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