Benjamin Graham’s Value Investing Principles

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Table of Contents

Introduction and scope of the research
Rationale for the research
Personal motivation
Research question
Research objectives
Research methodology
Significance of the research and conclusion
References

Introduction and scope of the research

Benjamin Graham is an eminent investment mentor one of the greatest investors. Graham is very stringent in analyzing investment securities. Graham’s books, “Security Analysis” and “The intelligent Investor” are great guides to investors at all times. According to Benjamin Graham, the main investing principle is that investors should invest within a safety margin. Graham insists that investors should expect profits from their investments, and they should know whether they are passive or active investors (Graham & Dodd 2008). Active investors are enterprise investors who seriously commit their time and energy and they always get high returns from their investment and hard work. On the other hand, inactive investors are defensive investors who may not commit their time or energy in investing. An example of a defensive investor is an investor who buys some shares of a company and expects to earn dividends if the company gets a profit. The inactive investors do not commit their time or energy in the management of the company. Graham clearly states that investors need to be great risk takers. Investing in stocks, for example, is dealing with uncertainties, and one may be tempted to exit during tough times of market stresses. According to Graham, smart investors will always take advantage of the market volatilities to find chances of great investment. The modern economic climate needs a smart investor who will accept to take risks, but take a strategic approach of combining various portfolio assets to reduce the overall investment risks. In the modern portfolio theory, stocks will generate more profit than bonds, whereas the bonds will generate more than the money market. However, the risk of volatility in the stock market is very high, and smart investors should diversify their investment portfolios to reduce the overall investment risks (Graham & Dodd 2008). The modern economic principles somewhat base root on Benjamin Graham’s investment principles. This dissertation will study Benjamin Graham’s investments principles. It will compare Graham’s principles with the modern investment principles and techniques using well-diversified historical data from portfolios of stocks prior to the 2008 crash.

Rationale for the research

The rationale for this research lays in the fact that Benjamin Graham’s investment principles and the modern investigating principles both focus on the investor (Bell 2009). They have little consideration of the investment climate, and neither do they give an allowance for external shocks. The 2008 financial crisis was a revelation for most of the investors. Shocks are possible happenings across all market segments and across all economic grounds. The 2008 financial crisis reveled that maintenance of a stable economy is not an insulator to external shocks. The US focused on the domestic economy while taking little consideration of the global economy. The negligence resulted to an exacerbation of the global economy, and there was an extensive financial imbalance. The global policy makers were flabbergasted and this is when they called for international cooperation and setting of long term objectives. The question is whether the set objectives would prevent the economic climate from future crises.

Personal motivation

The investors affected by the 2008 remained in a dilemma on whether or not to continue investing. Some of the investors committed suicide because they could not withstand the massive losses they underwent. The 2008 financial crisis was contagious and severe. Failure of one company, and especially a universal market, caused multiple market failures. The crisis spread substantial real costs in every sector of the economy. A year of distress for the surviving investors marked the aftermath of the crisis. The increased uncertainty and the risk aversions made investors to give up their investments because of the possibility of international insolvency that would further cause adverse global consequences. My personal motivation to carry out this research is the fact that failure to address the problem adequately paves way to a more severe future crisis than the 2008 financial crisis.

Research question

As stated, Benjamin Graham is a great investor and investment mentor and his investment principles are indispensable. This paper will make a stringent analysis of Benjamin Graham’s investing principles as they apply in the modern economic ground while referring to the 2008 financial crisis. Therefore, the research question is, with reference to the 2008 financial crisis, how are Benjamin Graham’s value-investing principles relevant in the modern economic climate?

Research objectives

In the process of answering the research question, the research will aim at attaining the following objectives.

To study the modern economic grounds and determine what the modern economy requires of the investors.
To take a stringent analysis of Benjamin Graham’s value-investment principles, gain a greater understanding of each of the three principles, and try to understand and apply them in the modern economy.
To study the 2008 financial crisis data, access the investors before and after the crisis and collect relevant perception data from the investors.

Research methodology

The whole research is comprehensive and it will require a detailed design of obtaining the relevant data (Rowley 2002). Saunders guidelines will be employed to attain the set objectives of the study. It is noteworthy that this objectivist research employs the positivistic approach to study the human behaviors on making investment decisions in response to a shock, specifically the 2008 financial crisis.

Data collection method: This research will need both primary and secondary data. Interrogative interviews with the current investors and duly filled questionnaires by the investors will provide primary data (Marczyk, Dematteo & Festinger 2005). The 2008 crisis reports will give the necessary secondary data.
Research design and procedure: The research will consider investors of universal markets. Those who were investors before and after the 2008 crisis will state their motivating factors while the investors after the 2008 aftermath will explain their smartness in investing.
Data analysis: The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) will be used in the data analysis exercise. Descriptive statistics, correlations and regression analysis will give a greater overview of Benjamin Graham’s value investing principles and their relevance to the modern economic climate.

Significance of the research and conclusion

The 2008 financial crisis aftermath left many investors in a dilemmatic condition. Some of them vowed never to invest in stock or money markets. This research is very significant in advising the brokenhearted investors that investment is all about being a wise and smart risk taker. Benjamin Graham’s value investment principles are very critical for any investor. However, investors should be on the safe side just in case of unpredictable and unavoidable shocks. Investors can seek investment advice to help them in creating and managing portfolios that have overall reduced risks of investments and relatively high returns. The 2008 global financial crisis downturn should pave way to getting a chance to find great investments for smart investors.

References

Bell, J 2009, Doing your research project, Open University Press, Buckingham.

Graham, B & Dodd, D 2008, Security Analysis: Principles and Technique, McGraw-Hill, India.

Marczyk, GR, Dematteo, D & Festinger, D 2005, Essentials of research design and Methodology, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ.

Rowley, J 2002, ‘Using case studies in research’, Management Research News, vol. 25 no.1 pp. 16-27.

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