The Investing for Beginners Podcast - Your Path to Financial Freedom

The Traits of Elite Investors with Lee Freeman-Shor

Mar 19, 2026
Lee Freeman-Shor, former fund manager and author who studied top investors, shares striking findings about how elite investors behave. He reveals that even the best are only right about half the time. Short stories explore how winners and losers are handled, the five investing tribes, and the rituals and rules that help execution beat stock picking.
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INSIGHT

Elite Investors Are Right About Half The Time

  • Top investors are only right about individual stock picks roughly 49% of the time.
  • Lee Freeman-Shor discovered this from running a Best Ideas fund made of ten ideas per manager and analyzing trading data over years.
INSIGHT

Behavior Beats Stock Picking For Long-Term Returns

  • How managers react when winning or losing determines long-run success more than stock selection.
  • Freeman-Shor grouped behaviors into five tribes (assassins, hunters, rabbits, connoisseurs, raiders) based on reactions to gains/losses.
ADVICE

Avoid Rabbit Behavior With Losing Positions

  • Avoid being a rabbit: do not freeze and let losers grow into catastrophic losses.
  • Freeman-Shor fired managers who dug in, letting positions fall 50–80% in concentrated ten-stock mandates.
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