It's been a week since legendary investor Warren Buffett announced his retirement plans.
At the recent Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK.B) shareholder meeting, the Oracle of Omaha revealed he would be recommending Greg Abel to succeed him as CEO by the end of the year.
As The Motley Fool's Chief Investment Officer, Scott Phillips wrote, this will draw the curtain on an extraordinary investment career that spanned more than 80 years and six decades at the helm of Berkshire. Over that time, Berkshire Hathaway's share price has risen by an average 19.9% per annum. This is well ahead of the market, with the S&P 500 index rising an average of 10.4% per annum over that time frame.
Warren Buffett is often credited as being the most successful investor in history. His 2025 net worth is estimated to be US$161 billion, making him one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet.
However, two other investors accumulated even better track records than Warren Buffett's during their investing careers. Who are they?
Peter Lynch
Peter Lynch certainly has an enviable investing track record. As the fund manager of Magellan Funds at Fidelity Investments between 1977 and 1990, he grew the fund from US$20 million to over $14 billion. That amounted to an annual growth rate of 29.2%. This crowned Magellan the best-performing fund in the world at the time. A $10,000 investment into Lynch's fund would've grown into an impressive $280,000 by 1990.
In 1989, Peter Lynch published One Up on Wall Street. The bestseller teaches ordinary investors how to achieve high returns using common-sense principles and remains a popular book among investing enthusiasts today.
In sharp contrast to Warren Buffett, Lynch retired at the age of 46. In 2024, Yahoo Finance estimated his net worth to be around $US450 million.
Joel Greenblatt
Fellow American Joel Greenblatt is another success story. Greenblatt ran Gotham Capital between 1985 and 1994, where he averaged a staggering 50% annualised return (34.4% net of fees).
He is also the author of the popular investing book The Little Book That Beats the Market. In that book, Greenblatt details the 'magic formula' that allowed him to generate such outstanding returns. In simple terms, the method uses two simple metrics, return on capital and earnings yield, to identify good businesses that are selling for bargain prices.
Today, Greenblatt runs Gotham Asset Management.
While his net worth is not explicitly disclosed, it has been estimated to be around $500 million.
