Between 1977 and 1990, when he suddenly retired at age 46, Peter Lynch grew Fidelity’s Magellan fund from a $20 million pipsqueak into a $14 billion giant and became a Wall Street legend in the process.
In a 1989 Fortune article titled “Secrets of a Champion Investor,” a young Andrew Serwer, now editor-at-large of Barron's, spoke to Lynch about his investing philosophy in a lengthy interview. The takeaway for retail investors was rather simple: Look for thriving businesses at “cut-rate prices,” and do your homework to understand the firms’ operations fully before investing.
