Speculation master Bernard Baruch once made tens of billions in three years and is one of the most famous and admired legendary figures who have conquered Wall Street. He is not only fond of the stock market but also keen on politics, and is known as "Presidential Advisor" and "Park Bench Politician" by people.
Starting from scratch and becoming famous
Bernard Baruch was born in Camden, South Carolina, USA in 1870. In 1889, he entered Wall Street as an apprentice in a stock brokerage firm, starting to learn about venture investments with a weekly salary of 3 dollars. Through continuous efforts, he was quickly promoted to a partner of the company. After that, he invested all his savings to buy a seat on the New York Stock Exchange and became a millionaire before the age of 30. In the following years, Baruch was on the verge of bankruptcy several times but made a comeback. By 1910, he had become one of the few magnates on Wall Street, along with Morgan.
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In his early years, Baruch was engaged in arbitrage between the London and New York markets. At that time, due to frequent wars, he took advantage of the fluctuations in the stock market during the intervals of war to earn profits, which trained the young Baruch's judgment and quick response ability, and also showed his strong foresight and courage and wisdom.
The first miracle of life
In 1897, the young Baruch created the first miracle in his life. That spring on Wall Street, the stock of the American Sugar Refining Company began to plummet, and people who fell into a pessimistic mood started to sell frantically. This was mainly because the Senate was discussing a proposal to reduce the import tax on foreign sugar, and the House of Representatives was also going through a similar legislative process. But Baruch firmly believed that this proposal would not pass, and he believed that the sugar beet growers in the West also hoped to gain more profits through tariff protection, just like Wall Street. So, he bought $3,000 worth of stocks with $300. Later, as Baruch had expected, the Senate vetoed the proposal, and the stock of the American Sugar Refining Company soared continuously. With just $300, he made $60,000.
In 1898, Baruch's investment talent once again shocked Wall Street. On July 3, 1898, Baruch, who was on vacation, learned that the Spanish fleet had been annihilated by the US Navy, and the US military had achieved a decisive victory in the Spanish-American War. Baruch realized that this victory meant that the war was about to end, and the US financial market would rebound rapidly, and there might even be a strong momentum. The next day was July 4th, Independence Day, and the New York Stock Exchange would be closed for a day according to the convention, but the London Stock Exchange should be open as usual. At this time, if you buy stocks at a low price in London and sell them at a high price in New York, the profit margin will be considerable. The next day, the stock prices in the stock exchange began to rise one after another, and Baruch made a lot of money for his boss and himself.Earning millions in three years From 1897 to 1900, in just three years, Baruch's personal assets rose to $1 million. When he first entered the industry, he was still a poor boy with no money. In such a short period of time, he earned millions of dollars in assets. This is really a miracle. Today, almost every investor working hard on Wall Street is a master in a certain field, or an economic expert, or a venture capitalist, or a floor trader, or an investment banker, but Baruch can combine all these roles in a short period of time and become an "all-rounder" in investment. In Baruch's view, it is impossible for anyone to fully master the investment essentials of all industries. Therefore, the best way to invest is to find the industry that you know best and are most familiar with, and then put all your energy into it. For Baruch, he admitted that he had never been able to master the investment tricks of agricultural products. He once said frustratedly: "In my opinion, as long as I invest in a certain agricultural product, the product will become less and less valuable." The most painful blow to Baruch's investment in agricultural products was a coffee transaction. He believed an authority's prediction that coffee production would drop significantly, and bought a lot of coffee. However, the market situation was exactly the opposite of the authority's prediction. The coffee production that year exceeded that of previous years. Although the government took measures to maintain the price of coffee, the price of coffee in the market continued to fall. Finally, Baruch reluctantly sold all the coffee he had, losing a total of 700,000 to 800,000 US dollars. He believed that the reason for this failure was entirely due to blindly believing the authority's words and not analyzing the changing market. This experience made Baruch unforgettable for life. Until later, he still said with lingering fear: "Some things about inside information seem to paralyze people's reasoning ability and make them ignore the most obvious facts." Ten trading rules summarized by Baruch 1. Don't speculate unless you do it as a full-time job. 2. Be wary of so-called inside information or gossip.3. Before you purchase bonds, find out all the information you can about the company, its managers and competitors, its earnings, and the potential for growth.
4. Do not attempt to buy at the bottom and sell at the peak. This is nearly impossible—unless you are accustomed to lying.
5. Know how to accept losses as quickly as possible and do not expect to always be right. If you make a mistake, cut your losses as soon as possible.
6. Do not buy too many different stocks; it is better to hold a few investments that you can keep an eye on.
7. Regularly re-evaluate all your investments to see if developments are deviating from expectations.
8. Study your positions to see when selling can yield greater benefits.
9. Keep some cash on hand; do not invest all your funds.
10. Do not invest everywhere, but rather invest in the areas you know best.
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