In my early days as a fledgling investor, I wondered how to find the right stocks. Should I just pick out familiar names from the stocks page in the financial press?  Rely on tipsters in the press or on the TV? Or join one of the online stock picking services?

I dallied a little with all of these for a while. But I quickly realised that there was a better way. Someone starting out at golf would be well advised to build a swing based on the great golfers, rather than thrashing randomly. Luckily, not only are there great investors to emulate – such as Warren Buffett, Peter Lynch and Shelby Davis – but it is relatively easy to study their methods. Buffett writes down his thoughts in detail in his regular shareholder letters. Lynch wrote one of the standard texts on investing, One up on Wall Street. Shelby Davis’ career was catalogued in detail in John Rothchild’s book, The Davis Dynasty. And that’s just for starters. There are many more great investors to follow.

My methods represent a combination of ‘the best of the best’. It has worked very well for me, easily beating the market, with year on year returns in excess of 20%.

I set out my approach in the following topics, which are designed to be read in sequence (but you may select them individually):

Conventional Wisdom – And Why You Should Ignore It

The Bond Fallacy

Diversification

Where Do The Returns Come From?

Lottery Tickets and Businesses