The starting point of my career in money management in 1973-74 was the time of the only true bear market any living non-Japanese investor has seen in major markets. Equities, real estate, you name it, everyone got run over.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
And at a relatively early age, ten or so, I invested my first share of stock. And I used to follow, look at companies and so forth. But throughout the whole period, and indeed right through my college years, while I was involved in the stock market, always interested in finance, I never thought of it as a full-time job.
After serving in the Korean War, I actually started working towards a master's degree in finance.
I want to be known as one of the most accurate investors that ever lived.
I was a stock broker once. I think there is an absolute place for market investments. But they should never be the basis of one's retirement. They should be an additional piece on top of a basic, secure, guaranteed retirement benefit.
I was in the equity-trading department at Merrill Lynch. I was there in 1987 when the market crashed.
When I was very young, maybe 12 years, I began to make investments.
I have invested in the stock market since I was very young.
I've always wanted to invest. That's why I started working on Wall Street in the first place, back in 1986 when I went through the Salomon Brothers training program.
I made my money turning around distressed or bankrupt companies. I did 50-some of them in my career... I started on a shoestring and eventually built up quite a fortune.
My only foray into anything stock-market-related was in my eighth grade social studies class. I have steered clear ever since.