7 key investing lessons investors can learn from Sir John Templeton

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doyens of investing. One such legend is Sir John Templeton who was a British investor and philanthropist. In 1954, he created the Templeton Growth Fund, which gave an average return of over 15 per cent per year for 38 years.

Although he gave numerous investing lessons, we share seven lessons here. 1. Investing is not gambling: He recommended against day trading and batted for long term investing.

He said investing should not be done like gambling in a casino. If investors are influenced every time the market moves a few points here and there, the market will be your casino. And in gambling, most gamblers lose, and lose often.

ALSO READ: How to become rich: Top investing tips for millennials and Genz to make money The most relaxed investors are the ones who are better informed. 2. Investing in value stocks not market trends: He used to advocate for investing in individual stocks and not in market trends.

This means the market is a combination of stocks but one invests in the individual stocks which may buck the market trend. So, there could be stocks that rise in the bear market and the ones that fall in the bull run. 3.

Remain open minded: Templeton used to say that investors should be open minded about the type of investment one makes. There could be times when one should buy blue-chip stocks and there are occasions when it is appropriate to buy cyclical stocks or corporate bonds. Also, there could be times when it is advisable to preserve cash because it enables you to leverage the investment opportunity.

4. Buy low: Although it appears simple in theory, it is difficult to practise. It is not easy to outperform the market when you do what everybody else is doing.