John Neff: the world’s greatest investors

16-8-11-Neff-1200 — John Neff: focus on value and ignore the crowd

John Neff was born in 1931 in Ohio. He graduated from the University of Toledo and got a job as a securities analyst at the National City Bank of Cleveland. After doing an MBA at Case Western Reserve University, he became the portfolio manager of Wellington Management Company in the 1960s, running its Windsor fund a year later. He would also go on to run the Gemini and Qualified Dividend funds, retiring at the end of 1995.

What was his strategy?

price/earning (p/e) ratios

One rule of thumb he used was to add the growth rate (in percent per year) and the dividend yield together. If the resulting number was double the p/e ratio he would investigate the company in more depth. However, this wasn't an absolute rule and he frequently invested in stocks that didn't pay a dividend.