Benjamin Graham

For other people with the same name, see Ben Graham (disambiguation).
Benjamin Graham
Graham reading an edition of Moody's Manual, 1950
Born
Benjamin Grossbaum

(1894-05-09)May 9, 1894
London, England, UK
DiedSeptember 21, 1976(1976-09-21) (aged 82)
Aix-en-Provence, France
NationalityAmerican
EducationColumbia University (BA)
Academic career
InstitutionColumbia University
University of California, Los Angeles
ContributionsSecurity Analysis (1934)
The Intelligent Investor (1949)
Benjamin Graham formula

Benjamin Graham (/ɡræm/; né Grossbaum; May 9, 1894 – September 21, 1976)[1][2] was a British-born American financial analyst, economist, accountant, investor and professor. He is widely known as the "father of value investing",[3] and wrote two of the discipline's founding texts: Security Analysis (1934) with David Dodd, and The Intelligent Investor (1949). His investment philosophy stressed independent thinking, emotional detachment, and careful security analysis, emphasizing the importance of distinguishing the price of a stock from the value of its underlying business.

After graduating from Columbia University at age 20, Graham started his career on Wall Street, eventually founding Graham–Newman Corp., a successful mutual fund. He also taught investing for many years at Columbia Business School, where one of his students was Warren Buffett. Graham later taught at UCLA Anderson School of Management at the University of California, Los Angeles.

Graham laid the groundwork for value investing at mutual funds, hedge funds, diversified holding companies, and other investment vehicles. He was the driving force behind the establishment of the profession of security analysis and the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.[4] He also advocated the creation of index funds decades before they were introduced.[5] Throughout his career, Graham had many notable disciples who went on to earn substantial success as investors, including Irving Kahn and Warren Buffett, who described Graham as the second most influential person in his life after his own father.[6] Among other well-known investors influenced by Graham were Charles D. Ellis, Mario Gabelli, Seth Klarman, Howard Marks, John Neff and Sir John Templeton.[7]

  1. ^ Cray, Douglas W. (September 23, 1976). "Benjamin Graham, Securities Expert". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  2. ^ Graham, Benjamin (1996). Benjamin Graham, the Memoirs of the Dean of Wall Street. McGraw-Hill. p. 1. ISBN 9780070242692. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved August 21, 2021. Remembered or not, I was born on May 9, 1894, at 87 Aberdeen Road in London, England, and my original name was Benjamin Grossbaum.
  3. ^ "8 Brilliant Lessons From The Investor That Taught Warren Buffett Everything He Knows". Business Insider. Archived from the original on 2017-02-21. Retrieved 2017-02-21.
  4. ^ Jason Zweig and Rodney N. Sullivan, "Benjamin Graham: Building a Profession: Classic Writings of the Father of Security Analysis," 2010, pages 1-7, 9.
  5. ^ "Another Note on Benjamin Graham and Index Funds". 6 April 2015. Archived from the original on 23 December 2023. Retrieved 23 December 2023.
  6. ^ Warren Buffett, "Preface to the Fourth Edition", in Benjamin Graham, "The Intelligent Investor", 4 ed., 2003.
  7. ^ Berryessa, Norman; Kirzner, Eric (1988-12-22). Global Investing: The Templeton Way. McGraw-Hill Education. p. 125. ISBN 978-1556238734.