The No. 1 Trait of a Successful Investor

The office of an average hedge fund looks something like this: Rows of Ivy League grads sit at desks with four computer monitors, three telephones, a Bloomberg terminal, and a Red Bull. Everyone is poring over financial data, charts, and reports while frantically working the phones and often screaming at one another. It's about as high-stress as it gets.

Yet most hedge funds underperform a basic S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC ) index fund. High IQ and mountains of data don't automatically guarantee good performance.

Last week, I sat down with famed value investor Mohnish Pabrai, whose office looks nothing like an ordinary hedge fund. It's essentially just him in a small room -- and yet he has crushed the market over the last decade.

I asked him about his simplistic approach and how it helps him achieve high returns. Here's what he had to say.

More Expert Advice from The Motley Fool

The Motley Fool's chief investment officer has selected his No. 1 stock for the next year. Find out which stock in our brand-new free report: "The Motley Fool's Top Stock for 2013." I invite you to take a copy, free for a limited time. Just click here to access the report and find out the name of this under-the-radar company.

Jeff Fischer and team have demystified options. And they can rack up income like $1,030... $2,626... and $3,228 on a schedule you can set your watch by!
That's why we're glad to announce every single one of their closely guarded strategies is available to YOU during May and June – 100% FREE, no strings attached! Just enter your email address in the box below...

Comments from our Foolish Readers

Help us keep this a respectfully Foolish area! This is a place for our readers to discuss, debate, and learn more about the Foolish investing topic you read about above. Help us keep it clean and safe. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Fool's Rules, please report it via the Report this Comment icon found on every comment.

Report this Comment On December 17, 2012, at 3:00 PM, catoismymotor wrote:

Spear the salmon!
Report this Comment On December 22, 2012, at 8:23 PM, Sunny7039 wrote:

"It's essentially just him in a small room -- and yet he has crushed the market over the last decade."
You know, this also described a lot of people, including a lot of successful small investors, . . . and also including Madoff.
I'm not criticizing this person. I know nothing about him, and have no reason to suspect anything negative about him. I'm criticizing this rhetoric. It promotes the wrong mindset.