- Connor Haley, founder and managing partner at Alta Fox Capital, learned the basics of investing from classic investment literature early on in his career.
- In an exclusive interview with Business Insider, he shared three books that had an influence on shaping his personal investment philosophy and strategy.
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Connor Haley, founder and managing partner at Alta Fox Capital, bought his first stock when he was a freshman in high school.
Although he really didn't have much of an idea what he was doing at the time (and who does when they buy their first stock?), Haley's analytical background in chess thankfully transferred seamlessly over to investment analysis. His purchase of Buffalo Wild Wings turned out to be a winner - and he was hooked.
"Call it beginners luck, I suppose," he said in an exclusive interview with Business Insider. "I think I ended up selling to early, but it still performed well."
From that point on, he started searching for investment ideas voraciously throughout the rest of his high school years, spending hours a day scouring websites like The Motley Fool and The Street for actionable ideas.
Today, Haley does most of his research on his own through a plethora of proprietary financial models - and he's absolutely trouncing the market.
From the beginning of April in 2018 to the end of September in 2019, his fund is up 62.4% - making the S&P 500's return of 16.1% look puny in comparison.
But Haley didn't happen upon his investment philosophy and strategy alone. He learned by borrowing ideas from the best investors in history.
Below are three influential books that he says shaped his thinking around markets and aided in his understanding.
1. "The Motley Fool Investment Guide" by David and Tom Gardner
This is the book that kickstarted Haley's journey down the investing rabbit hole.
"It's catered more towards beginners, but that was one of the first books I read and it was really helpful in sparking and fueling my interest in learning more," he said. "It sort of got me down the right path - from my perspective - of fundamental investing with sort of a longer-term approach and a focus on businesses versus stock prices."
Haley makes an important distinction here.
All too often, investors seem to forget that there's an actual business underlying that fluctuating stock ticker - and market gyrations are exponentially harder to stomach if your focus is 100% on the stock price, and 0% on the underlying business.
When you're first getting introduced to investing, it's easy to lose sight of what's truly important. It's a common fallacy that neophyte investors fall prey to, and one that Haley was largely able to avoid due to his understanding of the dichotomy.
2. "One Up on Wall Street" by Peter Lynch
Peter Lynch, the famed manager of the Magellan Fund at Fidelity Investments, offers up sage advice in this classic must-read. Its overarching message is timeless.
"His books are pretty easy to read and filled with a lot of wisdom," Haley said. "And I wanted to accelerate my learning as fast as possible."
Lynch is famous for rewarding shareholders with an unprecedented 29.2% annualized return over his 13 year tenure at Fidelity - and is also responsible for coining the buy-what-you-know mantra. If he didn't understand the business, he wasn't buying. This led him to look for undervalued companies with products that he, or someone close to him liked.
In the book, investors can dive deep into the thought process of one of the greatest investing minds the world has ever seen.
3. "You Can be a Stock Market Genius" by Joel Greenblatt
"I basically try to read everything that Joel Greenblatt has ever written," he said. "He's probably my favorite investor."
Haley isn't joking when he says he tried to read everything that Greenblatt has ever written.
"I've read notes complied by previous students from his Colombia Business School class at least ten times," he said. "I find them to be packed with a lot of wisdom."
Greenblatt, the co-founder of Gotham Capital, is another famed value investor that belongs in the money-managing hall-of-fame.
In this classic investment book, Greenblatt shares how to spot opportunities, guidelines and rules for making investment decisions, and "special situations" to profit from.