Peter Lynch, born in 1944, is renowned as one of history’s most successful investors.
He managed Fidelity’s Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990, averaging an annual return of 29.2% and outperforming the S&P 500 for all but two years.
His early interest in the stock market sparked while working as a caddy, leading him to pursue a degree in finance and later an MBA.
Lynch began his career at Fidelity as a textiles and metals analyst and by age 33, he took over the Magellan Fund.
Lynch is famous for his “Buy what you know” investment philosophy, encouraging investors to select companies they understand.
His strategies included focusing on undervalued stocks with high growth potential and the importance of diversification.
He also devised the price-to-earnings-growth (PEG) ratio, a valuable tool for stock valuation.
Related: Warren Buffett Quotes
In addition to his success as an investor, Lynch is an accomplished author, penning bestselling investment guides.
Today, he’s an active philanthropist, known for generous donations to educational institutions and the establishment of the Lynch Foundation.
Here are some of the best quotes from Peter Lynch to increase your investment acumen.
Peter Lynch Quotes on Investing & Stock Market
1. “Know what you own, and know why you own it.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
2. “An important key to investing is to remember that stocks are not lottery tickets.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
3. “All the math you need in the stock market you get in the fourth grade.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
4. “In the long run, it’s not just how much money you make that will determine your future prosperity. It’s how much of that money you put to work by saving it and investing it.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
5. “When stocks are attractive, you buy them. Sure, they can go lower. I’ve bought stocks at $12 that went to $2, but then they later went to $30. You just don’t know when you can find the bottom.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
6. “Invest in what you know.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
7. “You get recessions, you have stock market declines. If you don’t understand that’s going to happen, then you’re not ready, you won’t do well in the markets.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
8. “Just because you buy a stock and it goes up does not mean you are right. Just because you buy a stock and it goes down does not mean you are wrong.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
9. “Far more money has been lost by investors preparing for corrections, or trying to anticipate corrections than has been lost in corrections themselves.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
10. “Nobody can predict interest rates, the future direction of the economy or the stock market. Dismiss all such forecasts and concentrate on what’s actually happening to the companies in which you’ve invested.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
11. “There is always something to worry about. Avoid weekend thinking and ignoring the latest dire predictions of the newscasters. Sell a stock because the company’s fundamentals deteriorate, not because the sky is falling.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
12. “Stocks are a safe bet, but only if you stay invested long enough to ride out the corrections.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
13. “The person that turns over the most rocks wins the game. And that’s always been my philosophy.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
14. “Never invest in a company without understanding its finances. The biggest losses in stocks come from companies with poor balance sheets.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
15. “Equity mutual funds are the perfect solution for people who want to own stocks without doing their own research.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
16. “Charts are great for predicting the past.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
17. “Everyone has the brainpower to make money in stocks. Not everyone has the stomach.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
18. “If you can’t find any companies that you think are attractive, put your money in the bank until you discover some.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
19. “You can’t see the future through a rearview mirror.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
20. “The stock market really isn’t a gamble, as long as you pick good companies that you think will do well, and not just because of the stock price.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
21. “When you sell in desperation, you always sell cheap.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
22. “Time is on your side when you own shares of superior companies.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
23. “A stock market decline is as routine as a January blizzard in Colorado. If you’re prepared, it can’t hurt you. A decline is a great opportunity to pick up the bargains left behind by investors who are fleeing the storm in panic.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
24. “I deal in facts, not forecasting the future. That’s crystal ball stuff. That doesn’t work.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
Best Peter Lynch Quotes
25. “The best stock to buy is the one you already own.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
26. “I don’t know anyone who said on their deathbed: ‘Gee, I wish I’d spent more time at the office.’” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
27. “Never invest in any idea you can’t illustrate with a crayon.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
28. “The simpler it is, the better I like it.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
29. “Your ultimate success or failure will depend on your ability to ignore the worries of the world long enough to allow your investments to succeed.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
30. “If you’re prepared to invest in a company, then you ought to be able to explain why in simple language that a fifth-grader could understand, and quickly enough so the fifth grader won’t get bored.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
31. “You should not buy a stock because it’s cheap but because you know a lot about it.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
32. “Spend at least as much time researching a stock as you would choosing a refrigerator.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
33. “The typical big winner in the Lynch portfolio generally takes three to ten years to play out.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
34. “Searching for companies is like looking for grubs under rocks: if you turn over 10 rocks you’ll likely find one grub; if you turn over 20 rocks you’ll find two.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
35. “You only need a few good stocks in your lifetime. I mean how many times do you need a stock to go up ten-fold to make a lot of money? Not a lot.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
36. “I think you have to learn that there’s a company behind every stock and that there’s only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
37. “If you can follow only one bit of data, follow the earnings – assuming the company in question has earnings. I subscribe to the crusty notion that sooner or later earnings make or break an investment in equities. What the stock price does today, tomorrow, or next week is only a distraction.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
38. “The biggest winners are surprises to me, and takeovers are even more surprising. It takes years, not months, to produce big results.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
39. “As I look back on it now, it’s obvious that studying history and philosophy was much better preparation for the stock market than, say, studying statistics.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
40. “Avoid hot stocks in hot industries.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
41. “When even the analysts are bored, it’s time to start buying.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
42. “Investing is fun and exciting, but dangerous if you don’t do any work.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
43. “Hold no more stocks than you can remain informed on.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
44. “Behind every stock is a company. Find out what it’s doing.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
45. “The Rule of 72 is useful in determining how fast money will grow. Take the annual return from any investment, expressed as a percentage, and divide it into 72. The result is the number of years it will take to double your money.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
46. “The natural-born investor is a myth.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
47. “Absent a lot of surprises, stocks are relatively predictable over twenty years. As to whether they’re going to be higher or lower in two to three years, you might as well flip a coin to decide.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
48. “The real key to making money in stocks is not to get scared out of them.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
49. “In business, competition is never as healthy as total domination.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
50. “Invest in businesses any idiot could run, because someday one will.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
Famous Peter Lynch Quotes
51. “I spend about fifteen minutes a year on economic analysis.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
52. “What makes stocks valuable in the long run isn’t the market. It’s the profitability of the shares in the companies you own. As corporate profits increase, corporations become more valuable and sooner or later, their shares will sell for a higher price.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
53. “Owning stocks is like having children – don’t get involved with more than you can handle.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
54. “I’ve always said, the key organ here isn’t the brain, it’s the stomach. When things start to decline – there are bad headlines in the papers and on television – will you have the stomach for the market volatility and the broad-based pessimism that tends to come with it?” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
55. “If you have the stomach for stocks, but neither the time nor the inclination to do the homework, invest in equity mutual funds.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
56. “More money is lost anticipating the changes in the overall stock market than any other way of investing.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
57. “It’s human nature to keep doing something as long as it’s pleasurable and you can succeed at it, which is why the world population continues to double every 40 years.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
58. “If you hope to have more money tomorrow than you have today, you’ve got to put a chunk of your assets into stocks. Sooner or later, a portfolio of stocks or stock mutual funds will turn out to be a lot more valuable than a portfolio of bonds or CDs or money-market funds.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
59. “I’m always fully invested. It’s a great feeling to be caught with your pants up.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
60. “If a picture is worth a thousand words, in business, so is a number.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
61. “My method for picking stocks has never changed. When businesses go from crappy to semicrappy, there’s money to be made.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
62. “Long shots almost always miss the mark.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
63. “When management owns stock, then rewarding the shareholders becomes a first priority, whereas when management simply collects a paycheck, then increasing salaries becomes a first priority.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
64. “Long-term investing has gotten so popular, it’s easier to admit you’re a crack addict than to admit you’re a short-term investor.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
65. “If you go to Minnesota in January, you should know that it’s gonna be cold. You don’t panic when the thermometer falls below zero.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
66. “Gentlemen who prefer bonds don’t know what they’re missing.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
67. “You can find good reasons to scuttle your equities in every morning paper and on every broadcast of the nightly news.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
68. “Twenty years in this business convinces me that any normal person using the customary three percent of the brain can pick stocks just as well, if not better, than the average Wall Street expert.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
69. “There are substantial rewards for adopting a regular routine of investing and following it no matter what, and additional rewards for buying more shares when most investors are scared into selling.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
70. “Visiting stores and testing products is one of the critical elements of the analyst’s job.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
71. “In stocks as in romance, ease of divorce is not a sound basis for commitment.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
72. “Your investor’s edge is not something you get from Wall Street experts. It’s something you already have. You can outperform the experts if you use your edge by investing in companies or industries you already understand.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
73. “There’s no shame in losing money on a stock. Everybody does it. What is shameful is to hold on to a stock, or worse, to buy more of it when the fundamentals are deteriorating.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
74. “I’ve found that when the market’s going down and you buy funds wisely, at some point in the future you will be happy. You won’t get there by reading ‘Now is the time to buy.’” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
75. “You have to keep your priorities straight if you plan to do well in stocks.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
76. “Go for a business that any idiot can run – because sooner or later, any idiot probably is going to run it.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
77. “The extravagance of any corporate office is directly proportional to management’s reluctance to reward the shareholders.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
Inspiring Peter Lynch Quotes
78. “There’s lots of stocks out there and all you need is a few of ’em. That’s been my philosophy.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
79. “You just don’t know when you can find the bottom.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
80. “The basic story remains simple and never-ending. Stocks aren’t lottery tickets. There’s a company attached to every share.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
81. “I talk to hundreds of companies a year and spend hour after hour in heady pow-wows with CEOs, financial analysts, and my colleagues in the mutual-fund business, but I stumble onto the big winners in extracurricular situations, the same way you do.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
82. “If you’re lucky enough to have been rewarded in life to the degree that I have, there comes a point at which you have to decide whether to become a slave to your net worth by devoting the rest of your life to increasing it or to let what you’ve accumulated begin to serve you.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
83. “You shouldn’t just pick a stock – you should do your homework.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
84. “If all the economists in the world were laid end to end, it wouldn’t be a bad thing.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
85. “The junior high schools and high schools of America have forgotten to teach one of the most important courses of all. Investing.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
86. “It isn’t the head but the stomach that determines the fate of the stockpicker.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
87. “When you start to confuse Freddie Mac, Sallie Mae, and Fannie Mae with members of your family, and you remember 2,000 stock symbols but forget the children’s birthdays, there’s a good chance you’ve become too wrapped up in your work.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
88. “There’s a company behind every stock and a reason companies – and their stocks – perform the way they do.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
89. “Everyone has the brainpower to follow the stock market. If you made it through fifth-grade math, you can do it.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
Top Peter Lynch Quotes
90. “All you need for a lifetime of successful investing is a few big winners, and the pluses from those will overwhelm the minuses from the stocks that don’t work out.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
91. “That’s not to say there’s no such thing as an overvalued market, but there’s no point worrying about it.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
92. “I don’t go near the money and the money doesn’t go near me.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
93. “Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. Suicide is a choice and I think if we work with that with kids, we’ll get somewhere.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
94. “In our society, it’s been the men who’ve handled most of the finances, and the women who’ve stood by and watched men botch things up.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
95. “Most investors would be better off in an index fund.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
96. “All the time and effort people devote to picking the right fund, the hot hand, the great manager have, in most cases, led to no advantage.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
97. “In the summer of 1990, I was buying stocks and I was probably three or four months early there. But we had a great rally in 1991.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
98. “Improved turnout will give parliament and government the appearance of being more legitimate.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
99. “A lot of people got in at the wrong time. A lot of people did very well and some people said, “This is it. I’ll never get back in again.” And they may be meant it, but they probably got back in again anyway.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
100. “It would be wonderful if we could avoid the setbacks with timely exits, but nobody has figured out how to predict them.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
101. “Average investors can become experts in their own field and can pick winning stocks as effectively as Wall Street professionals by doing just a little research.” ~ (Peter Lynch – One Up On Wall Street).
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Short Biography of Peter Lynch
Peter Lynch, an influential American investor and mutual fund manager, led Fidelity Investments’ Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990, achieving an exceptional average annual return of 29.2%.
Under his guidance, the fund’s assets soared from $18 million to $14 billion, outperforming the S&P 500 and becoming the top mutual fund globally.
| Full Name | Peter Lynch |
| Born | January 19, 1944 (age 80) Newton, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Education | Boston College (BA); The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania (MBA) |
| Occupation(s) | Investor, Author, Mutual Fund Manager, Philanthropist |
| Employer | Fidelity Investments (1966 – 1990) |
| Known for | Managing the Magellan Fund |
| Title | Chairman of the Lynch Foundation |
| Spouse | Carolyn Lynch (m. 1968; died 2015) |
| Children | 3 |
Lynch, also an author and philanthropist, is famous for advocating value investing and popularizing terms like “invest in what you know” and “ten bagger”.
His book “One Up on Wall Street” has sold over a million copies.
Quick Facts about Peter Lynch
- Peter Lynch is a renowned American investor.
- He managed the Fidelity Magellan Fund from 1977 to 1990.
- Under his leadership, the fund averaged an annual return of 29.2%.
- Lynch popularized the investment philosophy: “invest in what you know.”
- He emphasized investing in familiar companies and industries.
- This approach allowed him to make informed decisions.
- He wrote the famous investment book, “One Up On Wall Street.”
- In the book, he shares insights on stock selection and investment analysis.
- Lynch coined terms like “ten-bagger” and “three-bagger” for high-return stocks.
- He advocates for long-term investment perspectives.
- Lynch’s net worth exceeds $400 million.
- He employs a “bottom-up” approach, focusing on company fundamentals.
- Emphasizing the importance of thorough research, he ensures deep understanding of investments.
- Lynch encourages staying informed about market and economic trends.
- He retired from managing the Fidelity Magellan Fund in 1990.
- Lynch has received multiple awards, including the Peter McEvoy Award.
- He serves on the boards of several organizations, including New York-Presbyterian Hospital.
- Lynch is an active philanthropist, supporting educational and charitable causes.
- He promotes financial literacy and informed decision-making.
- Lynch has appeared on various financial news networks to discuss investments.
- He holds a bachelor’s degree in finance from Boston College.
- Lynch earned an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
- He has been a vocal advocate for individual investors.
- Lynch believes that successful investing is accessible to anyone with the right approach.
- Known for his straightforward and witty investment advice.
- Lynch has inspired many investors with his strategies and success stories.
- He continues to be a sought-after speaker at investment events.
- Lynch has written several articles for major financial publications like Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.
- His investment principles are still relevant and guide investors today.
- Lynch has made a lasting impact on the investment industry through his teachings and writings.
Top Questions about Peter Lynch
A: Peter Lynch is a renowned American investor and former fund manager, best known for managing the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments from 1977 to 1990.
A: Peter Lynch is known as a “story” investor, basing each stock selection on a compelling narrative about the company’s potential for growth, shaped by its business plans and market opportunities.
A: Peter Lynch was known for his rapid turnover rate, often holding stocks for just a few months on average, with turnover rates exceeding 300% in the early years.
A: Lynch’s investment philosophy emphasizes the advantage individual investors have over institutional investors. He advocates for investing in familiar sectors and conducting in-depth research and analysis of companies.
A: Peter Lynch retired from fund management as a personal choice, aiming to spend more time with his family and engage in charitable work.
A: Lynch made notable successful investments in companies like Dunkin’ Donuts, Taco Bell, and Walmart, capitalizing on their growth potential.
A: Peter Lynch retired at age 46, with an estimated net worth of $450 million, having adhered to a philosophy of investing in well-understood businesses and holding stocks through various market conditions.
A: His success came from diligent research, understanding the businesses he invested in, and maintaining a long-term investment focus. His mantra, “Invest in what you know,” highlights the importance of familiar sectors.
A: During his tenure at the Magellan Fund, Peter Lynch achieved a remarkable compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29.2% from 1977 to 1991.
A: Lynch teaches the value of thorough research, patience, and maintaining a long-term perspective in investing. He underscores sticking to a well-thought-out investment strategy and not getting distracted by short-term market movements.
A: Yes, Lynch’s principles remain relevant, advocating for investing in well-understood companies, performing diligent research, and adopting a long-term investment stance, which are timeless strategies for individual investors.
