Which investors have inspired you so far?

The very first that left a mark on me is Walter Schloss. The way he run his fund is largely unique, in which he will only take a cut off your profits and no management fees are involved. The way he picked companies seems most plausible to a small fry like myself. He had no desires to communicate with management for research, worked a fix amount of hours a day, and diversified his holdings among many companies. He had little help (besides his son), worked in a humble and tiny office, and had no computer. His philosophy is not to buy companies based on earnings but book value instead, since the latter does not vary much. He displayed courage in buying out-of-sorts companies. A pretty unique man whose responsibility and financial intellect would be hard to match.

The second investor is ironically Dr Mike Burry. He is a master stock picker of turnaround plays as shown in (https://www.google.com.sg/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwizgobCwo_SAhUMtY8KHeMwBYEQFggaMAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fcsinvesting.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2013%2F07%2FMichael-Burry-Case-Studies.pdf&usg=AFQjCNFZtjDWV5PFznAoEZizA6AXIc8NVQ&sig2=z20lXDc79gki25KRfZXUYQ). This is a guy whose financial knowledge is entirely self taught, and his reasoning behind each trade shows a tremendous amount of research done. Without the fame of "The Big Short," he might be recognized more for his intellect rather than his courage.

The last person in mind is Sir John Templeton. Having read his book (https://www.amazon.com/Investing-Templeton-Way-Market-Beating-Strategies/dp/0071545638/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1487073194&sr=8-2&keywords=john+templeton), I think there are very few financial genius like him around. In one particular example, his niece described how he had noticed the tech bubble of 2000s blowing up and decided to start shorting companies close to the time where insiders are legally allowed to sell their holdings. This allow him to short stocks safely without the associated timing risk. He was also the first to venture overseas and picking Japan based on his knowledge of economics, followed by predicting that China would have been the next ideal country to invest in.

"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants."