Billionaire Advice on Investing for High Returns

This video features the investing philosophy of billionaire Stanley Druckenmiller. After listening to Stanley’s approach to investing, five characteristics of his high-returns approach are discussed as they relate to all investors. Specific focus is then given to how this investing approach is fitting and necessary for those seeking to invest in natural resources.

Stanley Druckenmiller: “My idea of risk control is a little non-conventional. I like putting all my eggs in one basket and then watching the basket very carefully…At most business schools they teach, I think, a lot of nonsense called risked-adjusted return and diversification. As a money manager, if you look at a normal portfolio most people will make 70-80% of their money that year on 2-3 ideas even though they will have 30-40 things in their portfolio. My concept was to put into those 2-3 ideas I have the most conviction in. I was also lucky to travel across asset classes so I traded commodities, currencies, bonds and equities. And it gave me the discipline if I didn’t have a good idea in equities, I was happy to have no equities or the same thing with bonds. So when you have a quiver with a bunch of arrows you can usually find something to put a lot of money into. The only other thing I’d say is that too many investors look at the present. The present is already in the price. You have to think out of the box and sort of visualize 18-24 months from now and what the world is going to be and what securities might trade at. What a company has been earning does not mean anything. What you have to look at is what people think it is going to earn and if you can see something (in) two years that is going to be entirely different than the conventional wisdom. That’s how you make money. My first boss used to say, “the obvious is obviously wrong.” If you invest in conventional wisdom you are going to lose your butt.”

Five Qualities:
1) Self-Directed
2) Contrarian
3) Strategic and Focused
4) Disciplined
5) Identifies Opportunities through Forward-Thinking