In this last of a four part series of articles on stock market legends we look at the The Enigmas of the market. These are the mystery men, the ones nobody has ever really figured out, though not for lack of trying.  Their opaque nature though has not kept them from beating the markets handily.

Ray Dalio

Dalio started his investing career at the age of 12 when he bought $300 worth of Northeast Airlines and tripled his investment.


 A stint at Long Island University and an MBA from Harvard followed.

In 1975 he formed Bridgewater Associates which is the largest hedge fund in the world managing over $154 billion in assets.  In 2007 Dalio predicted the financial crisis in an essay entitled, "How the Economic Machine Work; A Template for Understanding What is Happening Now."

Recently, there has been a little more light shined on his process as he has started sharing his "investment secrets" on short, animated videos he narrates on YouTube.

Age: 63

Net Worth: $12.5 Billion

David Tepper

Rising from humble beginnings in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he paid his way through the University of Pittsburgh by working in the library.  After graduation he went on to Carnegie Mellon University where he earned an MBA.

Originally going to work for Republic Steel he was eventually recruited by Goldman Sachs where he stayed for six years until leaving to start his fund, Appaloosa Management.

Appaloosa earned $7 billion in 2009 by buying beaten down financial stocks early in the year and selling them when they rebounded later in the year.

Tepper is a philanthropist, donating to various organizations including a $55 million gift to his alma mater Carnegie Mellon.

Age: 56

Net Worth: $7 Billion

Eddie Lampert

Getting an early education in the market from his grandmother who was a big fan of Louis Rukeyser's Wall Street Week, they would sit for hours and evaluate her stock picks from the daily paper.

Lampert later went to Yale and is a member of the infamous "Skull and Bones" organization.

After graduation he worked at Goldman Sachs, often directly with Robert Rubin.  Leaving in 1988, he founded ESL Investments with funding from investor Richard Rainwater and mogul David Geffen among others.

In recent years most of the news around Lampert has centered on his acquisition of Sears. The stock of the company has continued to plummet and the end goal of the investment is not clear to the public or the financial press.

Age: 51

Net Worth: $3.1 Billion

Seth Klarman

Perhaps less is known about Klarman than any other on this list.  Coming from humble beginnings, Klarman went on to graduate from both Cornell and Harvard University.

He is the author of the book Margin of Safety, Risk Averse Investing Strategies for the Thoughtful Investor, of which Warren Buffett is reported to have a copy on his desk, and when found, can go for as high as $1,500 per copy.

A conservative investor, he buys unpopular assets and then hedges them with a combination of derivatives.  He rarely speaks in public or grants interviews.

Age: 57

Net Worth: $1.3 Billion

Check out the rest in the series;

Legends of the Stock Market: The Gurus

Legends of the Stock Market: The Young Guns

Legends of the Stock Market: The Elder Statesmen

Photo Credit:  Praveenkumar Palanichamy/Moment/Getty Images