Laurance anticipated that the investments would be held for a decade and then sold or taken public,” write Ivashina and Lerner. “Rather than having a set life, RBI was organized as an evergreen fund. John Island and providing critical funding for the expansion of national parks in the United States. Virgin Islands, including building the exclusive and environmentally friendly Caneel Bay resort on St. the unfolding of tourism and conservation in the U.S. Two generations later-led by his grandchildren, especially Laurance-long-term capital brought about the development of Eastern Air Lines, a carve-out from General Motors military contractor McDonnell Aircraft Corp., which eventually was folded into Boeing Co. Rockefeller, turned a $4,000 investment in the oil refinery Standard Oil into the initial source of the family’s vast holdings. The authors cite the Rockefeller family’s wealth as an example of the use of patient capital. Rather, they can only be addressed with the thoughtful application of time and money,” write Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner, both Harvard Business School professors. “Many of society’s most intractable problems-from addressing the environment, to revitalizing decaying infrastructure in developed and developing nations alike to national security, to the hunger for innovation to stimulate economic growth-resist easy solutions. I thought then that it was by far the best book on investing. In the preface to the fourth edition, Warren Buffett, chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, wrote: “I read the first edition of this book in early 1950, when I was 19. To bolster the book’s relevance, Wall Street Journal columnist Jason Zweig added commentary after each chapter with recent examples. speculation, the investor and inflation, general portfolio strategy, stock selection for both the enterprising and defensive investors, comparisons of companies, and many other subjects. “It simply means being patient, disciplined, and eager to learn you must also be able to harness your emotions and think for yourself,” he writes.Ĭhapters cover investment vs. He notes that the intelligence of any investor has nothing to do with IQ or SAT scores. Graham largely shuns the practice of analyzing securities in favor of expanding on investment principles and investors’ attitudes. The practice is akin to buying a finely made piece of furniture at a discount. The reason why this book, originally published in 1949, is still in print is that it offers investors-be they beginners, those with some knowledge and success, or old hands-the nuts and bolts of value investing, which is buying stocks of quality companies whose worth is undervalued. The key lesson from Benjamin Graham’s much-lauded tome: “Don’t lose.” Easier said than done, of course. In 2022, far from having “lost it all,” Forbes put Gross’ net worth at $2.6 billion. In 2019, Gross revealed that he had been diagnosed with Asperger syndrome, which affects communication skills. During those years, he was a darling of the financial press-beaming from business magazine covers, being interviewed on CNBC, and being a sought-after speaker at financial gatherings.Īfter he was ousted from PIMCO, he went to Janus Capital Group, where he was unable to duplicate his earlier success. He took that same push-to-the-limit mentality to the bond market, where he was dubbed the “Bond King” by Fortune in 2002. At the time, Gross’ number was on the speed dial, so to speak, of many top federal and banking officials who valued his opinion and sway.Įarly on, Gross learned about strategy by successfully counting cards as a blackjack player at various Las Vegas casinos. ![]() as his eventual successor-that Gross was forced to resign from the company he built.Ĭhilds, a co-host of NPR’s “Planet Money” podcast who has also reported for Barron’s, the Financial Times and Bloomberg News, takes the reader through the subprime mortgage crisis, in which many Americans lost their homes due to predatory lending practices. After many years, enough staff members quit-including PIMCO’s former co-CEO and co-CIO, economist Mohamed El-Erian, whom Gross had recruited from Harvard Management Co. Yet he also comes across as an egotistical, mercurial boss who was so verbally abusive to his staff that some avoided walking by his office to keep from running into him. In addition to The Bond King by Mary Childs, which we rank the best overall investing book on our list, the subject himself has released a self-published autobiography titled I’m Still Standing: Bond King Bill Gross and the PIMCO Express.Ĭhilds’ authoritative, engaging book about pioneering bond trader Gross, from the investment management firm PIMCO, portrays him as brilliant and a visionary, who devised a new way to invest by making a market for trading bonds. This may be the year for books about Bill Gross.
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