Investor Profiles
Profiles of the investors whose thinking shapes my own. Not hero worship, critical examination. What worked, what didn't, and what survives translation to a retail investor's reality. Every profile is narrated; the running time is on the card.
Lead profile · Listen · 10 min
Jack Bogle
Founder, Vanguard Group · 1929 – 2019
Born the year the market collapsed and his family's savings went with it.
Built Vanguard with an ownership structure that made his personal enrichment
impossible, on purpose. The industry called his first fund "Bogle's Folly." It now
manages $1.5 trillion.
Read the full profile →
Before the SEC1834 to 1933, when most of the rules did not exist yet
8 min
Hetty Green
Financier · 1834 – 1916
6 min
Jesse Livermore
Speculator · 1877 – 1940
7 min
Ivar Kreuger
Financier · 1880 – 1932
8 min
Ferdinand Pecora
Senate Banking Cmte · 1882 – 1971
The Postwar Build1940s to 1990s, the industry retail investors inherited
16 min
Milton Friedman
Univ. of Chicago · 1912 – 2006
6 min
Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab Corp · b. 1937
5 min
Muriel Siebert
First woman, NYSE · 1928 – 2013
9 min
Anne Scheiber
IRS auditor · 1893 – 1995
8 min
Chuck Feeney
Duty Free Shoppers · 1931 – 2023
9 min
Reginald Lewis
TLC Beatrice · 1942 – 1993
The Modern Desk2000s on, still setting the terms
7 min
Ray Dalio
Bridgewater · b. 1949
28 min
Carl Icahn
Icahn Enterprises · b. 1936
12 min
Cathie Wood
ARK Invest · b. 1955
7 min
Ryan Cohen
Chewy, GameStop · b. 1985
15 min
Kanye West
Yeezy · b. 1977
8 min
Lyn Alden
Lyn Alden Investment Strategy
16 of 16
Paper Trail
Elon Musk · b. 1971
Portraits Bogle: BillCramer · CC BY-SA 4.0. Green: National Magazine · Public domain. Livermore: Unknown author · Public domain. Kreuger: Unknown photographer · Public domain. Pecora: National Archives · Public domain. Friedman: The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice · CC0. Siebert: Muriel Siebert & Co., Inc. · Public domain. Dalio: Web Summit · CC BY 2.0. Icahn: AviateHistory · CC0. Wood: Caroline Wood · CC BY-SA 4.0. Cohen: Bill Jerome · CC BY-SA 4.0. West: Brandon Winters · CC BY 2.0. Musk: Trevor Cokley, U.S. Air Force · Public domain. Alden: Gage Skidmore · CC BY-SA 2.0. Sourced from Wikimedia Commons. The duotone is applied in CSS at display time; the files themselves are unmodified.
