For golfers looking to improve their game, it can be useful to watch Tiger Woods. In the same way, investors can learn from the market's great money masters. Though you may not have their experience or resources, you can study the philosophies they used to develop your own investing approach.

Think like an owner, not like a renter
This philosophy is as commonsense as the investor who is famous for following it: Warren Buffett. Any list of successful investors includes the chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and he's typically at the top of the list. The "Oracle of Omaha" is well-known for his down-to-earth approach to sizing up investments.

Buffett invests in businesses, not stocks, and prefers those with consistent earning power and little or no debt. He also looks at whether a company has an outstanding management team. Buffett attaches little importance to the market's day-to-day fluctuations; he has been quoted as saying that he wouldn't care if the market shut down completely for several years. However, he does pay attention to what he pays for a stock; as a value investor, he may watch a company for years before deciding to buy. And when he buys, he plans to hang on to his investment for a long time.

Don't forget that markets can be irrational
Like Buffett, George Soros feels markets can be irrational. However, rather than dismissing their ups and downs, the founder of the legendary Quantum Fund made his reputation by exploiting macroeconomic movements. He once made more than $1 billion overnight when his hedge fund speculated on the devaluation of the British pound (he no longer actively manages the fund).

Soros believes in capitalizing on investing bubbles that occur when investors feed off one another's emotions. He is known for making big bets on global investments, attempting to profit from both upward and downward market movements. Such a strategy can be tricky for an individual investor to follow. However, even a buy-and-hold investor should remember that market events may have as much to do with investor psychology as with fundamentals. Whether or not you apply Soros's philosophy in the same way he does, that can be a valuable lesson to remember.

Use what you know; know what you buy
During his 13-year tenure at Fidelity Investments' Magellan Fund, Peter Lynch was one of the most successful mutual fund portfolio managers in history. He subsequently wrote two best-selling books for individual investors.

If you want to follow Lynch's approach, stay on the alert for investing ideas drawn from your own experiences. His "buy what you know" mantra asks you to examine your job, acquaintances, shopping habits, hobbies, and geographic location. Because of your in-depth understanding of these close-to-home subjects, you may be able to spot emerging companies before they attract attention from Wall Street. However, simply identifying a company you feel has great potential is only the first step. As with the other great investors, Lynch did thorough research into a company's fundamentals to decide whether it was a good investment.

Lynch is a believer in finding unknown companies with the potential to become what he called "ten-baggers" (companies that grow to 10 times their original price), preferably businesses that are fairly easy to understand.

Make sure the reward is worth the risk
Perhaps the best-known bond fund manager in the country, PIMCO's Bill Gross makes sure that if he takes greater risk--for example, by buying longer-term or emerging-market bonds--the return he expects is high enough to justify that additional risk. If it isn't, he says, stick with lower returns from a more reliable investment. Because bonds have historically returned less than stocks and therefore suffer more from high inflation, he also focuses on maximizing real return (an investment's return after inflation is taken into account).

Choose a sound strategy and stick to it
Even though all these investors seem to have different approaches, in practice they're more similar than they might appear. Each of their investing decisions has specific, well-thought-out reasons behind it. They rely on their own strategic thinking rather than blindly following market trends. And they understand their chosen investing disciplines well enough to apply them through good times and bad.

You Are Not Alone
By working with a qualified financial advisor, you can find the strategy that matches your financial goals, time horizon, risk tolerance, and investing style.