Peter Lynch's 8 principles for beating the market

(Why listen? He averaged 29% yearly returns running a mutual fund!!!)

1/12

1. Know what you own

This one frequently gets a "yeah, yeah" from me, but it's embarrassing how many "They do THAT?" moments I have.

Here's a test for every company you own...can you explain in detail how they make money AND how that's different than their competitors?

2/12

2. It's futile to predict the economy and interest rates (so don't waste time trying)

As I'm writing this, we're all wondering what the Fed's going to do.

You could read this a week, a month, or 10 years from now, and this would be true.

3/12

3. You have plenty of time to identify and recognize exceptional companies

Lynch mentions $WMT as an example...even way back when he wrote about it, it was a 10-bagger even if you waited 10 years AFTER its IPO.

Today, we can look at $AMZN or $NFLX.

4/12

4. Avoid long shots

LOVE this one.

It's so easy to get enamored with a stock's potential to 10-bag (e.g. hot industry, huge TAM, etc.), but we have to bump that against its chances for success.

5/12