Are the best stock investors well-educated?

I think it’s important to parse out two things here when studying the best investors: knowledge & experience.

You can gain knowledge through college/university/youtube/books/etc, but that will give you things to think about — a decent foundation.

I personally believe “nothing is automatic” — having a Master’s Degree in finance/economics doesn’t automatically do anything for you — it gives you a foundation — some would argue that there are cheaper ways to learn than college these days (another conversation). I’ve hired many Master’s Degrees over my career and some of them couldn’t show up to work on time — nothing is automatic.

As far as experience, the best stock investors are VERY experienced — not necessarily well educated (some were — some weren’t). Taking college courses and having a degree is fine, but they don’t give you the real-world experience, only experience can give you that and that is a trial by fire at times.

To answer the question, the best investors may be well educated, but they are VERY EXPERIENCED. Even Warren Buffett lost money on a few deals in his early 40’s. Warren Buffet has been investing for 76 years — since 1941. You would need 76 years of EXPERIENCE under your belt to catch up to him. (making you at least 87 years old assuming you started when he did at 11 yrs old). Link > How Warren Buffet Became the Oracle of Omaha

See what I mean about the difference between knowledge and experience?