The world’s greatest investors: Benjamin Graham

Share

• Copy link
• Facebook
• X
• Linkedin
• Whatsapp
• Pinterest

Share this article

Join the conversation

Follow us

Add us as a preferred source on Google

Newsletter

Get the MoneyWeek Newsletter

Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors

---

By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over.

You are now subscribed

Your newsletter sign-up was successful

---

Want to add more newsletters?

Twice daily

MoneyWeek

Get the latest financial news, insights and expert analysis from our award-winning MoneyWeek team, to help you understand what really matters when it comes to your finances.

Signup +

Four times a week

Look After My Bills

Sign up to our free money-saving newsletter, filled with the latest news and expert advice to help you find the best tips and deals for managing your bills. Start saving today!

Signup +

---

An account already exists for this email address, please log in.

Subscribe to our newsletter

Born in London in 1894, his family moved to New York when he was one year old. He studied at Columbia University, and was offered several academic posts after he graduated at the age of 20, but took a job as a messenger in the bond department of Wall Street firm Newburger, Henderson & Loeb. Within six years he was a partner.

In 1923 he left to manage money for private clients. Five years later he began teaching an evening class at Columbia Business School, which become the foundation for his 1934 investment classic, Security Analysis. This was later followed by the 1949 bestseller The Intelligent Investor, which has been reprinted in various editions.

What wasthe strategy of Benjamin Graham?

He advised investors to focus on companies that traded on low multiples of price to earnings (ie, that were cheap compared to the profits they were making). But he particularly liked companies trading at less than the value of their net assets, which he called "cigar butts" (you might be able to get one last puff out of them).

MoneyWeek

Subscribe to MoneyWeek today and get your first six magazine issues absolutely FREE

Get 6 issues free

Sign up to Money Morning

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Don't miss the latest investment and personal finances news, market analysis, plus money-saving tips with our free twice-daily newsletter

Sign up

Did this work?

GEICO was trading at rock bottom, but Graham saw that the firm was cutting costs through selling by post, and it was also selling to low-risk customers. By 1956, GEICO's shares had risen nearly tenfold. Graham was also a key influence on Warren Buffett. Indeed, Buffett who Graham taught as a graduate student at Columbia was invited to take over Graham-Newman in 1956.

What other advice did he have for investors?