SIR JOHN MARKS TEMPLETON

              Sir John Marks Templeton (1912 – 2008) was an American-born British stock investor, businessman and philanthropist. John Marks Templeton was an investor and mutual fund pioneer who dared to enter International Stock Markets. He was born in the town of Winchester, Tennessee, and attended Yale University.  He financed a portion of his tuition by playing poker, a game at which he excelled. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned an M.A. in law.

 Templeton became a billionaire by pioneering the use of globally diversified mutual funds where others much feared to enter. His Templeton Growth Fund, Ltd. (investment fund), established in 1954, was among the first who invested in Japan in the middle of the 1960s. He is noted for, during the Depression of the 1930s, buying 100 shares of each NYSE listed company which was then selling for less than $1 a share ($17 today) (104 companies, in 1939), later making many times the money back when USA industry picked up as a result of World War 2.

He rejected technical analysis for stock trading, preferring instead to use fundamental analysis. Money magazine in 1999 called him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century". Templeton renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1964, just to avoid over $100 million in U.S. income taxes when he sold his international investment fund to Franklin for $440 Million giving way to Franklin Templeton Mutual Funds.

Interesting set of rules from legendary investor John Templeton

1. Invest for maximum total real return
2. Invest — don’t trade or speculate
3. Remain flexible and open minded about types of investment
4. Buy Low
5. When buying stocks, search for bargains among quality stocks.
6. Buy value, not market trends or the economic outlook
7. Diversify. In stocks and bonds, as in much else, there is safety in numbers
8. Do your homework or hire wise experts to help you
9. Aggressively monitor your investments
10. Don’t Panic
11. Learn from your mistakes
12. Begin with a Prayer
13. Outperforming the market is a difficult task
14. An investor who has all the answers doesn’t even understand all the questions
15. There’s no free lunch
16. Do not be fearful or negative too often

He had dual naturalized Bahamian and British citizenship and lived in the Bahamas. He established Templeton Foundation at Pennsylvania which was used to help funding for a social cause. The first fund went out to Mother Teresa. He was created a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II in 1987 for his philanthropic efforts. He passed away in 2008 aged 96 at Bahamas.