Richard Rainwater: the world’s greatest investors

Richard Rainwater's strategy was to spot major technological or economic changes and profit from them, says Matthew Partridge.

Dr Matthew Partridge
By
published
in Features

Richard Rainwater was born on June 1944 in Fort Worth, Texas. He did his undergraduate degree at the University of Texas in Austin, before gaining an MBA from Stanford in 1968. He then briefly worked as an investment banker before Sid Bass, a former classmate, asked him to help manage money that the Bass family had inherited from an oil-tycoon uncle. In 1986, Rainwater struck out on his own, managing his own fortune until 2009 when he was diagnosed with an illness that would eventually lead to his death last September.

What was his strategy?

Did this work?

What was his best investment?

What lesson does he have for investors?

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Dr Matthew Partridge
Dr Matthew Partridge
Shares editor, MoneyWeek

Matthew graduated from the University of Durham in 2004; he then gained an MSc, followed by a PhD at the London School of Economics.

He has previously written for a wide range of publications, including the Guardian and the Economist, and also helped to run a newsletter on terrorism. He has spent time at Lehman Brothers, Citigroup and the consultancy Lombard Street Research.

Matthew is the author of Superinvestors: Lessons from the greatest investors in history, published by Harriman House, which has been translated into several languages. His second book, Investing Explained: The Accessible Guide to Building an Investment Portfolio, is published by Kogan Page.

As senior writer, he writes the shares and politics & economics pages, as well as weekly Blowing It and Great Frauds in History columns He also writes a fortnightly reviews page and trading tips, as well as regular cover stories and multi-page investment focus features.

Follow Matthew on Twitter: @DrMatthewPartri

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