Benjamin Graham is known as the father of value investing, br and he pioneered a rigorous, quantitative approach to br security analysis. Graham started investing during the early br 1900s. The landscape then was very different. For example, br investing was not considered a respectable profession. It was br viewed more like astrology or a game of chance—run by crooks br and people with inside information. Using inside information was br legal at the time. His groundbreaking investment strategy had its br roots in his own personal hardship. br br Value investing requires analytical rigor, discipline, patience, and br willingness to go against the crowd. Graham was able to follow br this approach, and his investment firm posted annualized returns br of about 20 per year from 1936 to 1956—roughly double that of br the market.