— by China Okasi
In a quest to uncover what lay inside the minds of some of Wall Street’s most talented black executives, TAP asked a few of them one simple question: “what’s your favorite book on investing?” The answers ranged from bestsellers to academic books to books that focused more on the cultural aspects of Wall Street investing than the theoretical principle of investing itself.
BERNARD BEAL
CEO & Founder
M.R. Beal & Company
Website: http://www.mrbeal.com
Favorite Book on Investing: The Intelligent Investor, by Benjamin Graham
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Bernard Beal founded a nationally recognized minority-owned investment banking firm, M.R. Beal in 1988, and when asked his favorite book on investing, he offered The Intelligent Investor as his most prized reading on the subject matter. His selection came fittingly; after all, The Intelligent Investor is written by Benjamin Graham, who is billed as one of the greatest investment advisors of the 20th Century. Even Warren Buffet (arguably one of the most successful investors of all time) referred to the The Intelligent Investor as “by far the best book on investing ever written.”
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JASON TYLER
Senior Vice President
Ariel Capital Management
Website: http://www.arielinvestments.com
Favorite Book on Investing: Snowball, by Alice Schrader
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Speaking of Warren Buffet, we asked a senior vice president, Jason Tyler about his favorite book on investing, and he chose Snowball, a biography of Buffet by Alice Schrader. According to Tyler, “Buffet is the best investor of our time, and Snowball really gets at his psyche.” Tyler also said he admired, in the book, Buffet’s willingness to go against conventional wisdom and stand alone. “When everyone is [investing] in one direction, Buffet looks to go another,” Tyler said. “Many people claim they can do that, but they can’t.”
Tyler added that Ariel Investments is a value investment shop known for being contrarian, and that the company models itself after Warren Buffet. In fact, Tyler said, he’s been “fortunate enough to have had Buffet at the office a few times…and one of the conference rooms [at Ariel] is named after him!”
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EUGENE FLOOD, Jr., Ph.D.
President & CEO
Smith Breeden Associates, Inc.
Website: http://www.smithbreeden.com
Favorite Book on Investing: Investments, by William Sharpe
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Dr. Eugene Flood brought academic flavor to his book choice. Very well, since he has a Ph.D. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a bachelor’s degree from Harvard. He said that his favorite book on investments is called Investments by William Sharpe.
“I read this book in graduate school at M.I.T. during the late 1970s,” Dr. Flood said. “The book provides a broad overview of financial markets and instruments (stocks, bonds, futures, options, etc.), a discussion of the roles of some of the main types of financial institutions, a bit about financial analysis and a discussion of the most important financial economic theories. It is a very good reference book for casual investors and for investment professionals alike.”
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MARY E. PUGH
President & Chief Investment Officer
Pugh Capital Investments
Website: http://www.pughcapital.com
Favorite Book on Investing: A Term at the Fed: An Insider’s View by Laurence Meyer
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Mary Pugh, President and Chief Investment Officer, has over 25 years of institutional portfolio management experience and is the founder of Pugh Capital Management, Inc. Her chosen book on investment? A Term at the Fed by Lawrence Myers. She said, “I had the opportunity to work with the Seattle branch of the San Fran Federal Reserve bank, so [I too have an insider’s] view.”
Pugh added that there are some people (since we’re discussing books, we’ll say characters) in Myers’ book that she’s met, just by virtue of her tenure at the Reserve. And, of course, she appreciates the enormous insight on monetary policies that the book has to offer.
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TROY DIXON
Managing Director
Deutsche Bank
Website: http://www.db.com
Favorite Book on Investing: Beating the Street, by Peter Lynch
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Troy Dixon is a Managing Director of Deutsche Bank Securities. Deutsche Bank is a leading global investment bank that hired Dixon to manage and assess the risk associated with their mortgage-backed securities (MBS) portfiolio.
Dixon said his favorite book on investing is Beating the Street by Peter Lynch. “This is my favorite investment book because it does a great job of relating [principles of] everyday life to investment concepts that are applicable to everyone,” he said.
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