On a sidenote, how many of you truly believe that Buffett and the other investment "kings" don't hold back as to the "true secrets" to their success? Are they so rich, and so giving that they want everyone to know how they got it right, or do they hold back the good stuff?
Not to take away the skills of Soros and Buffett, as they certainly are great traders and investors. But I think your question, or quest, has, at least partially, a survivorship bias. You are looking at the two among the top who had made it, out of tens of thousands or even millions who had attempted. You know what they say... observe a million chims throwing darts on a Wall Street Journal to buy stocks, there bound to be one or two chims who can become millionaires. There can be dozen others who started the same time as Buffett, viewed the market in the same way, invested using the same methodology and mindset, but for whatever reasons those companies they bought didn't go anywhere. And we never hear about their stories. Having skills and great ideas are not enough. IMO you also need to be in the right place at the right time. While it is good to study from some idols, but I always think that the more important questions are "Who are you? What do you have? What can you do with it? What are you going to do NOW - not what you could have done 10 years ago? How can you trade/invest better?" You can buy a few shares of BRK.A - and hope that after Buffett retires, the successor can keep up with the performance history (read Fidelity Magellan fund after Peter Lynch retired). Or you can give your own ideas a try. Did you have $60k to set aside 30 some years ago? And if you did, would you have handed it over to one unknown (at the time) fund manager and trusted him with your entire saving? You know... Forrest Gump became a millionaire because he bought stocks in Apple after hearing about this fruit company...
I think many are quite open and honest. If there was truely a secret formula that they aren't revealing you'd at least think they'd tell it to their offspring and they would continue the success. This almost never happens in reality.
There are secret formulas for everything, however only 1 or 2 selected individual would know about it. These formulas are only shared when the individual are laying in their death bed.
Here's a 10 year macro view of BAC as an example. Of course bank book values are/were questionable but this should give you a basic idea. <img src=http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/attachment.php?s=&postid=2875960>
I've read all the posts in this topic and disagree but agree with most. I dont think adoring Soros and Buffett is the right thing to do. First of all, if you can name the most famous Soros trade and people would say it was the birtish Pound. But that person probably doesnt realize Sorors itself influences the market and that was the exact reason he made 1 billion. He INFLUENCED other people to work for him. Now whats the deal with Buffet. People here comment he changes management with his own people. Thus he has easy access to insider information. Thus he actually INFLUENCES the company. Now what about Rothschild. Reportedly he made alot of money with the napoleon war at waterloo. he acted as if napoleon won and this INFLUENCED other dumb people to sell his bonds, then be bought them all on the cheap and made shitloads of money. Guys, im sure youll realize it by now. There is just one pattern on how to get rich. You need to be able to INFLUENCE other people. Other people have to work for you, thats how you get rich. What do they say, if everybody is your friend you will no longer have enemies. Why do you think Buffet is so unhappy about not being able to contact Obama anymore. You guys all think you can sit in the attic daytrading to riches... when in fact you should get out and slime your way to the top like the rest of us.