Wisdom from the Wealthy: 7 Lessons I Gained from 7 Billionaires

I just completed one investing book and I learnt 7 key lessons from 7 billionaires, and I’m sharing them here in simple words so that every investor can apply them.

🔹 1st Lesson from the 1st Billionaire: Howard Marks

👉 Howard Marks Net Worth: $3.2 Billion

Howard Marks, the legendary investor and co-founder of Oaktree Capital, is known for his deep understanding of market cycles and practical investing. From him, I learnt these valuable lessons for success in the share market:

✅ Key Investing Lessons from Howard Marks

1. Three rules for success: Doubt, doubt, doubt. Always question your assumptions.

2. Be lucky and humble – never assume you are smarter than the market.

3. Avoid ego – we are not the masters of the universe.

4. Don’t chase the popular market; bargains are rare there. Look where others are not.

5. See opportunities in high-debt companies if their fundamentals are strong.

6. Buy cheap, not costly. Overpriced stocks are highly risky.

7. Success in investing = Intelligent efforts + Luck + Hard work + Dedication.

8. Don’t hope prices will rise if you already bought at the wrong (overpriced) level.

9. Remember the COVID-19 crash – markets fell by 33.9%.

10. Crisis creates opportunities: In 2020, $2 billion,  he invested in high-yield bonds.

11. Forgetting pain in health is good, but in finance, never forget financial pain – it teaches lifelong lessons.

12. Future cannot be predicted, but history helps.

13. Individually we are smart, but in a group, we may act foolish.

14. In a bull market, don’t just fear risk – focus on buying opportunities you may miss.

15. Keep low expectations and be cautious in bull markets.

16. Strategy: Sell shares in bull markets, buy bonds, and hold liquidity for bear markets.

17. Be like water – flexible and adaptable:

• If blocked, stop.

• If broken, flow ahead.

• If square, become square.

• If circle, become circle.

18. Learn from past crises: Dot-com crash (2000), Housing bubble (2008), COVID crash (2020).

19. Be brave. Don’t live in fear; face challenges with courage.

20. Financial freedom = Income greater than expenses.

21. Everything is changeable. Never be too comfortable in good times and never lose hope in bad times.

🔹 2nd Lesson from the 2nd Billionaire: Jean-Marie Eveillard

Jean-Marie Eveillard is widely regarded as one of Wall Street’s top value investors. He managed the First Eagle Global Fund, built its Assets Under Management (AUM) from just USD 15 million to tens of billions.

His Key Investing Lessons

1. Future is uncertain → Minimise risk first.
2. Don’t forecast exact share values in the future.
3. Always buy assets at a low price with a margin of safety.
4. Diversify broadly – Eveillard held shares in 100+ companies.
5. Keep large cash reserves for safety and liquidity.
6. Secure your capital first before seeking returns.
7. Avoid big losses – lose 50% and you need 100% gain to recover.
8. Popular shares often lack margin of safety.
9. Opaque balance sheets are risky.
10. Strong shares today may not stay strong tomorrow.
11. Prefer stable, cheap, daily-use businesses .
12. Look for ~30% discount before investing.
13. Hold some gold (he kept ~14%) as a hedge.
14. Identify your weaknesses and work to remove them.
15. Don’t concentrate risk in one bank, broker, country, currency, or asset.

🔹 3rd Lesson from the 3rd Billionaire: Joel Greenblatt

1. Higher performance needs higher focus

2. Wrote books: You Can Be a Stock Market Genius & The Little Book That Still Beats the Market

3. First find real value, then pay less

4. Simplicity is key – Example: Google homepage (single logo, single box)

5. Make things easier

6. If EPS doubles, share price will double

7. Attended 1000+ company meetings

8. Buy based on earnings

9. Cheap + Good + Logical

10. Buy the best company at cheap rates

🔹 4th Lesson from the 4th Billionaire: Nick Sleep & Qais Zakaria

1. Read book: Investment Trust Explained

2. Read annual reports regularly

3. Personal company visits

4. CEO interviews

5. Understand company products – best company = best products at low price for customers

6. Read Walmart annual report (1970)

7. Invested 20% in Amazon, held for 16 years → became 70% of portfolio

8. Diversification = average returns

🔹 5th Lesson from the 5th Billionaire: Tom Gayner

1. Failures were the reason for success

2. Good habits = jogging + yoga + salad + peace + live below income + read more

3. Time is friend of good habits, enemy of bad habits

4. Example: Google (2004) – earnings doubled every few months, 25% operating margin, big cash, no debt

🔹 6th Lesson from the 6th Billionaire: Charlie Munger

1. Author traveled 3000 miles for 10 min interview

2. Know deeply the shares you own

3. Always keep margin of safety – buy below intrinsic value

4. Martin managed $6B, needed $15M to open account

5. Mistakes will happen – but learn and be careful next time

6. Munger: Never keep more than 3% of assets in one stock → own ~50 shares for safety

7. Beware emotions: fear, greed, jealousy

8. Munger read psychology deeply – kept 25 cognitive bias list

9. Stable profit is psychological

10. Convince people not by logic but by showing benefits

11. Encouragement is key

12. Stay open-minded, avoid narrow thinking

13. Investor’s biggest enemy = his own mind

14. Understand brain: strengths & weaknesses

15. Read The Psychology of Intelligent Analysis

16. Before being intelligent, avoid being foolish

17. In falling market, avoid herd mentality

18. Four brain boosters: focus, exercise, sleep, nutrition

19. Financial crises = opportunity for long-term investors

20. Play games where you are extraordinary

🔹 7th Lesson from the 7th Billionaire: Mohnish Pabrai

1. Faith in yourself avoids distraction

2. Clone the good habits of great investors

3. Wait for opportunities where gains outweigh risks

4. 10 shares are enough for diversification

5. Margin of safety is essential

6. Prefer best companies at fair price over cheap weak ones

7. Company financial statements must be clear