The River Guide's Fortune: A Buffettology Analysis of Phil Town's $1.45 Million Journey

Part I: A Story Warren Would Appreciate: The Making of a Rule #1 Investor#

The greatest investment stories often begin not with a stock tip, but with a fundamental shift in perspective. Warren Buffett’s journey was shaped by his mentorship under Benjamin Graham, and in a similar vein, Phil Town’s transformation from a self-described river guide into a multimillionaire investor began with a life-altering encounter on the tumultuous waters of the Colorado River. His story is a powerful real-world parable that illustrates a core tenet of Buffett-style investing: success is less about genius-level intellect and more about adopting the right philosophy, temperament, and a disciplined framework for making decisions.

The Call to Adventure on the Colorado River#

In 1980, Phil Town was leading a rafting expedition for trustees of the Outward Bound program through the Grand Canyon. By his own account, he was an ex-Green Beret living a modest life, earning about $4,000 a year and at times living on welfare in the off-season. His life was one of adventure, but not of financial accumulation. That changed at Crystal Rapid, one of the most dangerous sections of the river. A miscalculation sent his raft hurtling toward a massive hydraulic hole where, in his words, "we could easily die". Through skill and fortune, he maneuvered the raft to safety, leaving one passenger physically ill from the close call and another profoundly grateful.

Meeting the Mentor#

That grateful passenger, a wealthy and financially astute investor whom Town refers to only as "Wolf," saw in the young river guide a capacity for calm decision-making under extreme pressure. He told Town he could be doing better than "pumping rubber all summer" and offered to return the favor of saving his life by teaching him how to invest. For the next year, Wolf mentored Town, imparting the foundational principles of investing pioneered by Benjamin Graham and perfected by Warren Buffett. This apprenticeship model is a recurring theme in the history of value investing, underscoring the idea that this wisdom is best passed down from a master to a dedicated student.

Before any numbers were crunched or stocks were analyzed, however, a more profound transformation had to occur. Living a nomadic lifestyle on a meager income suggests a mindset where significant wealth was perhaps seen as unattainable or even undesirable. Indeed, sources indicate that Town "had to change his beliefs about money before he could succeed at, or even begin, investing". This psychological hurdle is often the most significant barrier for aspiring investors, who are frequently paralyzed by the myths that investing is "too hard" or "for experts only". Wolf's mentorship, therefore, was not merely a transfer of technical knowledge. It was a catalyst for a new worldview—one where wealth creation was not a form of gambling but the patient and disciplined ownership of wonderful businesses. This shift in mindset was the true first step on his journey.

The First Rule#

The very first and most important lesson Wolf taught was the one that gives Town’s philosophy its name: Rule #1. As famously articulated by Warren Buffett, Rule #1 is "Don't lose money," and Rule #2 is "Don't forget Rule #1". This is not a flippant remark but the philosophical bedrock of the entire approach. It fundamentally reorients the investor's focus from a quest for returns to an obsession with managing risk. It demands that every decision be predicated on the preservation of capital, forcing an investor to seek certainty and avoid speculation at all costs.

From $1,000 to a Million#

Armed with this new mindset and a powerful analytical framework, Town embarked on his investment journey. The central claim, repeated across his books and interviews, is that starting with a borrowed $1,000 in the early 1980s, he grew that small sum into over $1 million in just five years. Other accounts place the final figure at $1.45 million. This extraordinary result begs a critical question, the answer to which forms the remainder of this report: How, precisely, did he do it? The answer lies not in a secret formula, but in the systematic application of timeless principles.

Part II: Deconstructing the "Economic Castle": The Four Ms Through Mary Buffett's Eyes#

Warren Buffett does not use a rigid checklist, but his analytical process can be understood as a search for an "economic castle"—a wonderful business—protected by a deep, sustainable "moat," run by an able and honest lord, and available for purchase at a price that makes sense. Phil Town’s great contribution was to distill this process into a teachable and repeatable framework he calls the "Four Ms": Meaning, Moat, Management, and Margin of Safety. By examining each "M" through the lens of Buffettology, one can deconstruct the methodology that powered his remarkable success.

The Four Ms are not a random collection of criteria but a sequential filtering process. This system is designed to efficiently navigate the overwhelming universe of public companies, moving from the broad and personal to the specific and quantitative. An investor begins with the entire market, applies the Meaning filter to narrow it to a comprehensible list, uses the Moat filter to find competitively advantaged businesses within that list, scrutinizes Management to ensure trustworthy leadership, and only then, for the tiny handful of companies that survive this gauntlet, applies the final price filter: Margin of Safety. This logical cascade ensures that price is the last thing considered, a discipline that separates the true investor from the speculator.

M #1: Meaning (Warren's "Circle of Competence")#

Town's first M, Meaning, dictates that an investor should only buy businesses they can thoroughly understand, would be proud to own, and that align with their personal values. He argues that owning a mutual fund without knowing its holdings is the very definition of speculation, akin to handing a cashier $100 and asking them to pick a pair of shoes for you.

This is a direct and practical application of Warren Buffett’s famed "Circle of Competence." Warren has long maintained that investors get into trouble when they stray from what they know. He famously avoided technology stocks during the dot-com bubble and admitted to passing on early opportunities in Google and Amazon because he did not have a firm grasp of their business models and competitive landscapes. The principle is simple: if you cannot explain to a reasonably intelligent person, in simple terms, what a business does, how it makes money, and why it will continue to be successful for the next ten years, you have no business owning it. Town operationalizes this by advising investors to audit their own lives—their professions, hobbies, and daily consumption habits—to identify industries and companies where they already possess a base of knowledge. This is the essential first step in building a personalized universe of potential investments.

M #2: Moat (The Durable Competitive Advantage)#

The second M, Moat, is the heart of the analysis. A company must possess a durable competitive advantage that protects it from rivals, much like a moat protects a castle. This is the single most important factor in Warren Buffett’s investment philosophy. A business without a moat is vulnerable to the relentless assaults of capitalism; a business with a wide and widening moat can compound wealth for its owners for decades. Town identifies five primary types of moats, including a powerful Brand (like Harley-Davidson or Coca-Cola), a Secret (like a patent for a Pfizer drug or a proprietary algorithm), a Toll Bridge (a business with monopolistic control over a market), Switching costs that make it difficult for customers to leave (like Microsoft's operating system), and Price (the ability to be the consistent low-cost producer, like Wal-Mart).

However, a moat is not merely a qualitative story; its existence must be proven by the numbers in a company’s financial statements. This is where Town’s "Big Five" numbers come into play, serving as the quantitative evidence of a strong and sustainable moat.

• Return on Invested Capital (ROIC): This metric reveals how effectively management allocates capital to generate profits. A consistently high ROIC (Town looks for 10% or more over ten years) is a clear sign of a capital-efficient business protected by a moat.

• Sales Growth Rate: This shows the top-line growth of the business.

• Earnings Per Share (EPS) Growth Rate: This measures the growth in profitability on a per-share basis.

• Equity (or Book Value) Growth Rate: This reflects the growth in the net worth of the business.

• Free Cash Flow Growth Rate: This measures the growth of the actual cash the business generates that is available to owners.

For a business to be considered "wonderful," these last four growth rates should be stable, predictable, and consistently above 10% per year for the last decade. Crucially, they must also move in relative unison. A company whose earnings are growing much faster than its sales or cash flow may be using accounting tricks, a red flag for a prudent investor.

M #3: Management (The Honest and Able Lord of the Castle)#

The third M, Management, addresses the quality of the leadership team. A great economic castle can be ruined by a foolish or greedy lord. Town insists that a business must be led by skilled, experienced individuals whom you can trust to act in the best interests of the shareholders.

This aligns perfectly with Warren Buffett’s stated criteria: "We just try to buy businesses with good-to-superb underlying economics run by honest and able people and buy them at sensible prices". The evaluation of management is necessarily subjective, but it can be informed by objective actions. Town recommends several practical steps to gauge leadership quality: read the CEO’s annual letter to shareholders to assess their candor and long-term vision; listen to quarterly earnings calls to hear how they handle difficult questions about challenges and opportunities; and research the track record and past successes or failures of the key executives.

M #4: Margin of Safety (The Cardinal Rule of Value Investing)#

The final M, Margin of Safety, is the principle that ties the entire philosophy together and ensures adherence to Rule #1: Don't lose money. This concept, inherited directly from Benjamin Graham, is the cornerstone of value investing. It dictates that an investor must first determine the intrinsic value of a business—what Town calls the "Sticker Price"—and then purchase it only when it is available at a significant discount.

Town advocates for a 50% margin of safety, meaning an investor should aim to "pay a mere 50 cents to buy a dollar's worth of a business". This deep discount provides a crucial buffer against the inevitable uncertainties of the future: errors in judgment, unforeseen business challenges, or broad market downturns. It is the ultimate form of risk protection. As Warren Buffett famously said, "Price is what you pay; value is what you get". The margin of safety ensures that the price paid is substantially below the value received, creating both a high probability of profit and a low probability of permanent loss.

Part III: The Buffettology Toolkit: Calculating Value the Phil Town Way#

Determining a company’s intrinsic value is the central analytical task for a value investor. While Warren Buffett’s precise methods are proprietary, the underlying logic is not. Phil Town has systematized this logic into a specific, multi-step calculation that allows an individual investor to arrive at a "Sticker Price" (his term for intrinsic value) and a "Margin of Safety" price (the target purchase price). This process transforms the qualitative assessment of a wonderful business into a concrete, actionable number.

Step 1: Gather Your Tools (The Inputs)#

The calculation requires four key inputs, each of which demands careful, conservative judgment from the investor.

• Current Earnings Per Share (EPS): This is the starting point of the valuation, representing the company's profitability over the last twelve months on a per-share basis. It is a readily available figure from any major financial data provider.

• Estimated Future Growth Rate: This is the most critical and subjective variable in the entire calculation. It represents the projected compound annual growth rate of the company's EPS over the next ten years. Town provides a strict, conservative rule for determining this number: use the lower of either the company’s own historical growth rate (as determined by the "Big Five" numbers) or the consensus estimate of professional analysts. Furthermore, to guard against over-optimism, this growth rate should never be set higher than 15%.

• Estimated Future Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio: This is the P/E multiple that an investor anticipates the market will assign to the company's stock in ten years. A higher P/E reflects greater market optimism. Town’s rule of thumb is to use twice the estimated growth rate, but this figure should be capped at the company's historical average P/E ratio to remain grounded in reality.

• Minimum Acceptable Rate of Return (MARR): This is the annual return an investor demands as compensation for taking on the risk of the investment. For a Rule #1 investor, this is a non-negotiable hurdle rate of 15% per year. This high bar ensures that only the most attractive opportunities are considered, effectively filtering out mediocre investments.

Step 2: The Calculation - A Look into the Future#

With these inputs, the valuation proceeds through a logical sequence that projects the company's future value and then discounts it back to the present.

1. Project Future EPS: The Current EPS is compounded forward for ten years using the Estimated Future Growth Rate. The formula is: Future\ EPS = Current\ EPS \times (1 + Growth\ Rate)^{10}.

2. Calculate Future Share Price: The projected Future EPS is then multiplied by the Estimated Future P/E Ratio. This gives an estimate of what the stock price could be in ten years if the growth assumptions hold true. The formula is: Future\ Value = Future\ EPS \times Future\ P/E.

3. Determine Sticker Price (Present Value): This future share price is then discounted back to today's value using the 15% MARR. This calculation answers the question: "What is the maximum price I can pay for this stock today and still reasonably expect to achieve a 15% annual return over the next decade?" The formula is: Sticker\ Price = Future\ Value / (1 + MARR)^{10}.

4. Calculate the Margin of Safety (MOS) Price: Finally, the Sticker Price is divided by two to apply the 50% margin of safety. This final number is the investor's target purchase price. The formula is: MOS\ Price = Sticker\ Price / 2.

The following table provides a worksheet that illustrates this process with a hypothetical example.

Table 1: The Rule #1 Valuation Worksheet

This structured, disciplined approach to valuation is what provides a Rule #1 investor with the confidence to act decisively when an opportunity presents itself and the patience to do nothing when prices are too high.

Part IV: The Mathematical Mountain: An Analysis of the Claim#

Phil Town's story of turning $1,000 into a sum between $1 million and $1.45 million in five years is the narrative hook for his entire philosophy. However, to understand the mechanics behind this achievement, it is necessary to translate the story into the language of mathematics. An analysis of the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) required to produce such a return reveals a performance so extraordinary that it demands a deeper look at the context and execution of the strategy.

Calculating the Required Return#

The CAGR is the geometric progression ratio that provides a constant rate of return over a time period. It is calculated using the formula: CAGR = (Ending\ Value / Beginning\ Value)^{(1 / Number\ of\ Years)} - 1. Applying this to Town's claims yields staggering results. The more conservative claim, found in the synopsis of his first book, is turning $1,000 into $1 million in five years. The more widely cited claim is $1,000 into $1.45 million.

The table below calculates the CAGR for both scenarios.

Table 2: Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) Analysis

These figures—an annualized return of approximately 298% or 579%—are astronomical. To put them in perspective, Warren Buffett's long-term annualized return at Berkshire Hathaway is approximately 20%. Peter Lynch, during his legendary tenure at the Magellan Fund, achieved an average annual return of 29%. The historical average annual return for the S&P 500 is around 10%. Town's claimed returns are not just better; they are in a completely different statistical universe.

This mathematical reality leads to a crucial conclusion: such returns could not have been achieved by simply applying the standard Rule #1 strategy, which conservatively targets a 15% return, across a moderately diversified portfolio of 5 to 10 stocks. A 15% annual return is excellent, but it would turn $1,000 into just over $2,000 in five years. The 298% to 579% CAGR implies a far more aggressive approach. It suggests a strategy of hyper-concentration—investing a very large percentage of a small portfolio into one or two exceptionally undervalued companies—and potentially the use of leverage or stock options to magnify gains, both of which are advanced techniques that Town teaches.

This does not invalidate the core principles of the Four Ms. Rather, it contextualizes the extraordinary claim. The principles are the tool used to identify the right companies—the economic castles with wide moats. The market conditions of the time provided the once-in-a-generation opportunity. And the explosive returns were the result of applying the tool to the opportunity with aggressive, highly concentrated execution. The principles are for everyone, but the historical result was a product of unique circumstances.

Part V: The Playing Field: A Value Investor's Paradise in the 1980s#

An annualized return of nearly 300% or more is only plausible under the most favorable market conditions imaginable. As Warren Buffett teaches, the best time to buy businesses is when they are on the operating table; that is, when fear is rampant and nobody else wants them. Phil Town’s five-year investment period, which began around 1980, coincided with precisely such a moment—a period of maximum pessimism that gave way to one of the greatest bull markets in American history.

The Economic Climate: Maximum Fear#

The early 1980s were characterized by a brutal economic environment. The United States experienced a severe double-dip recession between 1980 and 1982, the worst downturn since the Great Depression. To combat runaway inflation that had plagued the 1970s, Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker aggressively tightened monetary policy, pushing interest rates to punishingly high levels. The result was an economy in turmoil: unemployment soared to nearly 11%, businesses failed, and a deep sense of pessimism pervaded the financial markets. For the stock market, this was the culmination of a long "secular bear" phase that had begun in the late 1960s, a period of more than a decade where the major indexes made no sustained upward progress.

The Birth of a Secular Bull Market#

For a value investor, this climate of fear was an ocean of opportunity. The principles of Rule #1 are designed to identify wonderful businesses and buy them at a 50% discount. In the panic of the early 1980s, the entire market was effectively on sale. Companies with strong balance sheets, durable competitive advantages, and excellent management were being priced as if their short-term struggles were permanent. This is the classic "Mr. Market" scenario that Benjamin Graham described, where the market's manic-depressive mood swings offer a rational investor the chance to buy assets for far less than their intrinsic worth.

In August 1982, the market finally bottomed out and began a historic, multi-decade secular bull market that, with interruptions, would last until the year 2000. Phil Town’s initial five-year period of investing perfectly straddled this critical inflection point. He was learning and applying a value investing framework at the very moment of maximum opportunity. This timing allowed for a "slingshot" effect: he could acquire assets at generational lows and then benefit from both the recovery of their intrinsic value and the tailwind of a powerful new bull market that lifted all boats.

Illustrative Examples of 1980s Opportunities#

While the specific stocks that comprised Town's initial portfolio are not publicly documented, one can look at the performance of various companies during that era to understand the art of the possible. The recovery from the 1982 recession lows produced some spectacular single-year returns. For example, Coleco Industries, the maker of Cabbage Patch Kids dolls, returned 435% in 1982 alone. Chrysler, having been bailed out by the government, roared back with a 426% return in the same year.

More importantly for a long-term, Buffett-style investor, many iconic companies with durable moats were available at prices that, in hindsight, were astonishing bargains. On January 1, 1985, shares of Home Depot could be bought for a split-adjusted $0.36, The Walt Disney Company for $1.53, and The Hershey Company for $3.13. An investor applying the Four Ms framework could have identified the powerful brands, predictable earnings, and strong market positions of these businesses when the broader market was still gripped by fear and uncertainty. The market environment of the early 1980s was the ultimate catalyst, providing the perfect conditions to forge, validate, and amplify the results of the Rule #1 system.

Conclusion: The Enduring Wisdom of Owning a Wonderful Business#

The story of how Phil Town turned $1,000 into a fortune is a compelling case study in the power of value investing. However, a nuanced analysis reveals a critical distinction between the investment strategy he teaches and the extraordinary personal outcome he achieved.

The strategy itself—Rule #1 investing—is a systematic framework for identifying wonderful businesses, calculating their intrinsic value, and buying them with a significant margin of safety. It is a disciplined, low-risk approach designed to generate consistent, market-beating returns, conservatively targeting 15% annually. This is a timeless and universally applicable methodology, grounded in the 80-year-old tradition of Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett, and Charlie Munger. It is a strategy that empowers the individual investor to take control of their financial future by doing their own homework, exercising patience, and developing the emotional discipline to act independently of the market's volatile moods.

The outcome of growing an investment by a factor of 1,000 or more in just five years, requiring an annualized return of nearly 300%, is another matter. Such a result is not a typical product of the strategy but rather a confluence of three factors: the application of sound principles, a once-in-a-generation market opportunity, and aggressive, hyper-concentrated execution. Town’s journey began at the point of maximum pessimism in the markets, the precise moment when a value-based strategy is most potent. The subsequent explosion of a new secular bull market provided a powerful tailwind that amplified his returns to a historic degree.

Therefore, the enduring lesson from Phil Town's story is not the expectation of achieving a 300% annual return. The true takeaway, viewed through the lens of Buffettology, is that the path to long-term wealth is paved not with speculation or market timing, but with the simple, profound wisdom of becoming a business owner. It is about having the diligence to identify a great economic castle, the analytical rigor to understand its value, and the patience to wait for the moment when Mr. Market, in his folly, offers to sell it to you for a fraction of its worth. That is the essence of Rule #1, and it is a lesson that can empower any investor to build their own fortune, one wonderful business at a time.

Works cited#

1. Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week! - Town, Phil: 9780307336132 - AbeBooks, https://www.abebooks.com/9780307336132/Rule-Simple-Strategy-Successful-Investing-0307336131/plp 2. Phil Town - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phil_Town 3. Phil Town: Navigating the Rapids of Investing - Thrive Global, https://community.thriveglobal.com/phil-town-navigating-the-rapids-of-investing/ 4. About Phil Town - Rule #1 Founder, https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com/about-phil-town/ 5. RULE #1 BOOK: REVIEWS ARE IN, https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com/blog/how-to-invest/rule_1_book_rev-2/ 6. Phil Town: Change Your Mind To Change Your Fortune - Buzzsprout, https://www.buzzsprout.com/1594606/episodes/8894364-phil-town-change-your-mind-to-change-your-fortune 7. Rule 1 PDF Summary: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing - Phil Town, https://blog.12min.com/rule-1-summary/ 8. The Ultimate Guide to Stock Investing: A Proven Path to Financial Freedom, https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com/blog/how-to-invest/stock-investing-guide/ 9. Phil Town | Penguin Random House, https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/authors/68659/phil-town/ 10. Is Rule #1 Investing Right for You? | by Phil Town - Medium, https://medium.com/@ruleoneinvesting/is-rule-1-investing-right-for-you-22b899d94d0f 11. Phil Town | Founder of Rule #1 Investing - Udemy, https://www.udemy.com/user/catherine-cacciotti/ 12. Books For Sale - Mary Buffett, https://www.marybuffett.com/books/ 13. Buffett On Economic Moats - - Alpha Architect, https://alphaarchitect.com/buffett-economic-moats/ 14. The 4M's for Successful Investing: Meaning ... - Rule #1 Investing, https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com/blog/how-to-invest/the-4ms-for-successful-investing/ 15. This Investment Checklist Just Made Rule #1 Simpler | by Phil Town - Medium, https://medium.com/@ruleoneinvesting/this-investment-checklist-just-made-rule-1-simpler-3aefede9f53e 16. Warren Buffett's Investment Strategy - Investopedia, https://www.investopedia.com/articles/01/071801.asp 17. Warren Buffett on Competitive Advantages. Selected quotes: - Durable Value, https://durablevalue.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Buffetts-references-to-competitive-advantages.pdf 18. The Definitive Guide On Identifying Companies With An Economic Moat – Warren Buffett, https://acquirersmultiple.com/2017/09/the-definitive-guide-on-identifying-companies-with-an-economic-moat-warren-buffett/ 19. Calculating Sticker Price and Margin of Safety : r/ValueInvesting - Reddit, https://www.reddit.com/r/ValueInvesting/comments/11b16es/calculating_sticker_price_and_margin_of_safety/ 20. 90 Warren Buffett Quotes on Investing, Business, and Life - Sarwa, https://www.sarwa.co/blog/warren-buffett-quotes 21. Margin of Safety Calculator | Rule #1 Investing, https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com/margin-of-safety-calculator/ 22. Phil Town's Margin of Safety Calculation (Texas Roadhouse Example) - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiU5Bk_f4Ls 23. HOW TO USE PHIL TOWN'S MARGIN OF SAFETY CALCULATOR(Shinoken Group 8909 Real Estate company example) - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xyN0lBKZotM 24. Calculating Margin of Safety | Phil Town - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a-kYQxXhcb8 25. CAGR Calculator: Calculate Compound Annual Growth Rate Online | ICICI Direct, https://www.icicidirect.com/calculators/cagr-calculator 26. CAGR Calculator (Compound Annual Growth Rate) - Omni Calculator, https://www.omnicalculator.com/finance/cagr 27. World Famous Investors: Who and What you Need to Know - Wall Street Survivor, https://www.wallstreetsurvivor.com/world-famous-investors/ 28. Famous Investors and Key Lessons for Aspiring Traders - DSP Mutual Fund, https://www.dspim.com/knowledge-hub/learn/mutual-fund-advanced/who-are-seven-of-the-worlds-most-famous-investors-and-what-can-we-learn-from-them 29. S&P 500 Average Returns and Historical Performance - Investopedia, https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/042415/what-average-annual-return-sp-500.asp 30. Rule #1 Investing - Invest Like The Best Investors In The World, https://www.ruleoneinvesting.com/ 31. Phil Town - Stock Options Explained - YouTube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7bNijOjAIII 32. Recession of 1981-82 | Federal Reserve History, https://www.federalreservehistory.org/essays/recession-of-1981-82 33. Early 1980s recession - Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1980s_recession 34. Why You Should Look At Sectors That Worked In The 1980's | Investing.com, https://www.investing.com/analysis/investors-may-want-to-look-at-sectors-that-worked-in-the-1980-39;s-200169380 35. Stock Market Comparison: 1983-1984 vs. 2015-2016 - Cabot Wealth Network, https://www.cabotwealth.com/daily/stock-market/stock-market-comparison 36. S&P 500 ® Index Historical Trends - Guggenheim Investments, https://www.guggenheiminvestments.com/advisor-resources/interactive-tools/sp-500-historical-trends 37. The 50 Best One-Year Returns on the S&P 500 (1980-2022) - Voronoi, https://www.voronoiapp.com/markets/The-50-Best-One-Year-Returns-on-the-SP-500-1980-2022-18 38. The Top S&P 500 Stocks by Annual Returns (1980‒2022) - Visual Capitalist, https://www.visualcapitalist.com/top-sp-500-stocks-by-annual-returns/ 39. 10 Stocks That Were Cheap in the '80s but Are Worth a Lot of Money Now | Nasdaq, https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/10-stocks-that-were-cheap-in-the-80s-but-are-worth-a-lot-of-money-now