The world’s greatest investors: Joseph Kennedy

Unethical to his critics, Joseph Kennedy merely claimed to be merely an astute speculator.

Joseph Kennedy, father of John and Robert Kennedy, was born in 1888 into an Irish Catholic family. He went to Harvard and graduated with a degree in economics in 1912. Using loans from friends and family, he bought a controlling stake in the Columbia Trust Bank, becoming its president aged just 25.

In 1919, he would join the stockbrokers Hayden, Stone & Co, before setting up his own investment company. Between 1934 and 1940, he was involved in politics, first as the chairman of the new Securities and Exchange Commission, later as ambassador to Britain. He would continue to invest until incapacitated by a stroke in 1961.

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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