“Trading is very competitive and you have to be able to handle getting your butt kicked.” – Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio)
In 1976, guru Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio) graduated from the University of Virginia, having earned his bachelor’s degree in economics – and an amateur welterweight boxing championship.
If Jones had decided to pursue a career in boxing, he might well have fought Sugar Ray Leonard, who was boxing’s welterweight champion in the 1980s. He might have won a professional title – and found fame and fortune that way.
But he chose instead to pursue a career in a field related to the subject he studied in school – and, for that, many investors are sure to be grateful. His name might not be a household word (outside of investment circles) like Leonard’s was, but he has amassed a personal fortune of $4.3 billion(putting him at #107 on Forbes’ list) that is far greater than he likely would have accumulated in a career in the ring, and the strategies employed by the Connecticut-based Tudor Investment Corporation he founded in 1980 have helped many others follow their dreams of financial success as well.
Jones’ career didn’t begin glamorously. He started out working as a clerk on trading floors, then worked as a broker before founding his asset management firm. In 1987, though, he gained attention from investors by first predicting “Black Monday” – Oct. 19, 1987 (when stock markets around the world crashed, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than a fifth of its value) – and then profited by 201% using methods similar to those used by forecaster Robert Prechter. A documentary on Jones – and his achievement – was shown on PBS in November 1987 (“TRADER: The Documentary”).
“You adapt, evolve, compete or die.” – Paul Tudor Jones (Trades, Portfolio)
Jones’ relevance and influence isn’t confined to Black Monday, though, and those who don’t listen to what he says today do so at their own peril. Two weeks ago, in an interview at the Robin Hood Investors conference in New York, he said he believes American stocks will outperform other equity markets for the remainder of the year.
He also said he thinks the global credit bubble is about to rupture, asserting that “the piper will be paid one day.”
Among the stocks in his portfolio are holdings in Progenics Pharmaceuticals Inc (PGNX, Financial), Apple Inc. (AAPL, Financial), Workday Inc. (WDAY, Financial), Hertz Global Holdings Inc. (HTZ, Financial), Ingram Micro Inc. (IM), Weyerhaeuser Inc. (WY), Eli Lilly and Co. (LLY), Facebook Inc. (FB, Financial), Newell Rubbermaid Inc. (NWL, Financial), Mastercard Inc. (MA, Financial), Pandora Media Inc. (P, Financial), General Motors Co. (GM, Financial) and Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ, Financial).
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