You check your portfolio. The stock you didn’t buy just jumped 20%. The “boring” one you own is… flat.
The urge to sell, to chase, to do something is overwhelming. We’ve all been there.
This feeling is the single biggest enemy of the average investor. And mastering it is the key to building real wealth.
Just ask Jean-Marie Eveillard.
He’s a legendary investor who quietly returned an average of 15% per year for 25 years at the First Eagle Global Fund. His success didn’t come from brilliant short-term trades. It came from one simple, brutal truth:
“I think investors everywhere in the world tend to be impatient.”
Eveillard built his entire strategy around fighting this one human weakness. He practiced “disciplined value investing,” which is just a fancy way of saying he was willing to look patient (and sometimes “wrong”) for a very long time.
Here’s his simple framework for winning the long game.
The 3 Pillars of Patiently Profitable Investing
Eveillard’s method wasn’t a secret algorithm. It was a mindset that forced him to be patient.
1. 🎯 Hunt for Obvious Bargains (Not Hype)
While everyone else was chasing the “next big thing,” Eveillard was a global bargain hunter.
He looked for high-quality companies that were obviously cheap.
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Case Study (Japan): He found a Japanese sensor maker (Keyence) with a 14% growth rate, huge profit margins, tons of cash, and zero debt. He calculated its stock was worth 50% more than its price, even after accounting for all its cash.
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Case Study (Switzerland): He found a holding company (Pargesa) that he believed was trading at a 50% discount to what its assets were actually worth.
He didn’t care if these stocks were “boring” or if they took 6-12 months to move. He just bought them cheap and waited.
2. 💰 Hold “Dry Powder” (and Be Proud of It)
This is the hardest rule for most investors.
When Eveillard couldn’t find any obvious bargains, he didn’t force it. He simply held cash. He called it “keeping one’s powder dry.”
This cash wasn’t “losing” to inflation; it was an insurance policy. It gave him two incredible advantages:
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Peace of Mind: He didn’t stress during market highs, knowing he wasn’t overpaying.
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Buying Power: When the market (inevitably) crashed, he was the one with cash, ready to buy great companies from all the panicked sellers.
3. 🚫 Avoid What You Don’t Understand
Eveillard was famous for avoiding “black boxes.” If he couldn’t understand how a business made money (like complex banks or derivatives), he simply didn’t invest.
His biggest rule? Avoid leverage (debt).
“We don’t want to use leverage,” he said, “because we are long-term investors and it takes away your staying power.”
Leverage forces you to sell at the worst possible time. Being patient means never being in a position where you are forced to sell.
The Real Battle Isn’t With the Market. It’s With Yourself.
Eveillard was human. He felt the same FOMO we all do.
He once admitted: “At the end of every day, I look at the stocks that went up and I wish I had more and look at the ones that went down and I wish I had less. It’s human nature.”
The difference? He didn’t act on that feeling.
He knew that to be a true value investor, you have to be willing to suffer pain. The pain of missing out. The pain of looking wrong for months or even years.
His secret was learning to master that emotion. It’s learning to sit still. It’s learning, as he said, “to wait for the fat pitch.”
What’s the hardest part of being patient for you? Is it watching others get rich on hype stocks? Let me know in the comments!
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