THE MONEY MASTERS

by John Train ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 23, 1979

Profiles of nine money-game winners--and more entertaining, all told, than instructive. Only one of the lot--commodities plunger Stanley Kroll, who cashed in his chips at age 40 and went to live in Europe--is not identified with equities. The others made their marks in the stock market, concentrating in one way or another on enduring values rather than interim fads; but that propensity aside, about all they have in common is a wealth of personal eccentricities. Robert Wilson, currently the financial community's most visible short seller, practices yoga, reads the classics, and prefers synthesis to analysis. The late Benjamin Graham--a pioneer in fundamental securities analysis who was characterized by one of three ex-wives as being ""humane but not human""--based his decisions almost wholly on balance-sheet data and other quantitative yardsticks. But Boston's buccaneering Paul Cabot--who quintupled Harvard's endowment to better than $1 billion over a 17-year span--is willing to run above-average risks if his intuition tells him he can attain superior appreciation rewards. On the other hand, Phillip Fisher--a San Franciscan who eats soup for breakfast and lunches at his desk on French bread and peanut butter--has fared well with the shares of electronics concerns based in nearby ""Silicon Valley."" The cast of characters also includes: Warren Buffet, a Nebraskan with a sharp eye for bargain-priced special situations; J. Rowe Price, an early advocate of growth issues who built a mutual-fund empire that bears his name; John ("". . . to everything there is a season. . ."") Templeton, a religion-minded money manager who pursues opportunities in offshore markets from a Nassau command post; and Lawrence Tisch, a corporate chieftain who has put more cash in Loews coffers through astute securities trading than he has by operating the company's movie theaters, hotels, and various other properties. Train concedes there may be no single lesson to be learned from the disparate careers of these men except that discipline and dedication can pay off; but the engaging way he tells their stories and his acumen in evaluating their investment philosophies will commend the text to readers on Main Street as well as Wall Street.

Pub Date: Jan. 23, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harper & Row

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979

Categories: NONFICTION