Benjamin Graham is known as the father of value investing and is probably one of the most well read and studied investor of the 20th century. Not much is known about the man behind the writing so I present to you these 5 facts about Benjamin Graham:
- Graham is known to have been a patient teacher with his students at Columbia Business School. Graham had such a profound influence on these students that two students, Buffett and Kahn, both named children after him. Howard Graham Buffett, and Thomas Graham Kahn. Howard Graham Buffett went on further to name his first child Howard Graham Buffett Jr.
- In early years Graham had a number of financial issues which may have helped to shape his defensive portfolio style. in 1916 Graham became financially involved in his brother's phonograph business, this commitment handcuffed Graham resulting in him missing several margin calls and moving him considerably into the red. Graham was later hit heavily by the stock market crash of 1929. His family was under such financial pressures at the time that his wife was forced to take a job as a dance instructor so that they could continue paying the bills.
- Graham while often referred to as the great American investor was actually not born in the US he was born May 8, 1894 in London and only moved to the US when he was one.
- Benjamin Graham was actually born Benjamin Grossbaum but his family changed its last name in the wake of world War I due to anti-German sentiment.
- Graham was first published at a meager 20 years old when the New York Times published a letter he had written. Graham's first major article was carried in the Magazine of Wall Street Sept 1, 1917 just a few years later. He continued to publish for most of his life and was active in writing both in magazines, periodicals, news papers and most famously his two books Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor. In total Graham wrote 6 books, 7 major articles and over 125 opt ed pieces in his career.
