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Mine are:
1) John Bogle- founder of Vanguard
When I was beginning my investing journey I discovered this icon. His sage advice such as costs matter, and most investors can’t beat the market so just use index funds led me to financial independence and a comfortable retirement. Also there is most likely no individual who has saved individual investors more money saving because of his push to lower investment fees.
2) Christine Benz- Personal investment author at Morningstar
When I read her articles on bucket portfolios, an idea created by Harold Evensky I was hooked. The concept just made so much sense, and makes it easy for me to sleep during retirement. I have continued reading her for years and I have learned so much.
3) Jonathan Clements- Journalist, Wall Street Journal’s Getting Going column; Creator of the Humble Dollar- Over the past several years I have learned an enormous amount about investing through this website. The site’s civil discussions provide a wealth of insight into average (or maybe not so average) investors journeys.
In addition to the wonderful names already mentioned, I would like to add Jesse Livermore. He made and lost several fortunes over his lifetime in the stock market, He knew that he should not put all his money in the stock market, but he just could not help himself. Greed got the better of him. He would advise others to always have some money on the side that was safe. He, unfortunately, did not take his own advice. But we can learn from this great investor to have a diversified portfolio. In the end he took his own life because of the size of his financial loss. He taught us to not make the same mistake. Thank you Jesse for such a valuable lesson.
John Bogle as the founder of Vanguard and chief advocate for index funds and passive investing.
William (Bill) Bernstein who really brings history into focus for investing.
Peter Bernstein who really help me grasp the concept of risk.
Daniel Kahneman and Amos Tversky who opened my eyes on how flawed the human mind, including mine, is.
Howard Marks for some really great ideas on how to use a flawed mind.
Louis Rukeyser – I still miss his show and the elves, you couldn’t watch his show and not be smarter, pre internet giving people access to the titans
John Bogle – for his work on indexing and expense, took me too long to follow my instincts, better late than never
Peter Lynch – Cause averaging 29% return for 13 years, on a no-load mutual fund, who does that?
John Templeton – His appearances on Wall St Week, were my first exposure to Int’l and Emerging Markets
Aside – To me these are the people that paved the way for what we see today
Everybody who has ever read anything by Jonathan has enriched his or her knowledge.
Jonathon Clements, Jack Bogle, Richard Bernstein, Jason Zweig, Christine Benz, Benjamin Graham, Warren Buffett. ( Not Me!)
Hmm, those names are oh so familiar to us educated investors!
The only person I followed and listened to was this columnist in the Wall Street Journal. I had a subscription to the WSJ to be sure I didn’t miss an article of common sense.
Some guy named Jonathan I think.
Well I sure can’t argue with your 3 choices. I have read Christine’s articles for many years. My dad was afraid of the market, but instilled in me the “pay yourself first” discipline. I figured out the market later on my own, but it was dad’s good habits that laid the foundation. He is absolutely my Mt Rushmore.
Great question! Here in this earlier Forum post is plenty of inspiration for ideas.
Interesting topic! I agree with your choices, David. I would like to add a couple. First: the late Larry Burkett. I first learned about personal finance from his Christian radio program in the 1990s. I was a complete newby then. The second person I would like to mention is Michelle Singletary, the personal finance columnist for the Washington Post. I have read her column for many years and she has such common sense for regular people like Spouse and me. I will be interested to see who else is mentioned by others. Chris
All great selections! I would add, Bill Perkins, author of the book “Die With Zero: Getting all you can from your money and your life”. The theme and philosophy of this book is one that has hit home with me and my wife in retirement.
Being able to take advantage of having the 3 legs of the stool (as he describes it) Money, Health and Time to spend on the experiences that will create memories for us and our family is what we are embracing in retirement. We feel blessed to travel (we’re in Aruba with our kids and grandkids now) volunteer for various organizations and spending time with our family and friends often. I’m not sure we (or anyone) will actually die with zero, but enjoying the fruits of our labor in this way feels right to us.