Megan Gorman joins the podcast to discuss her book ‘All the Presidents’ Money; How the Men Who Governed America Governed Their Money,’ in an effort to locate the contrarian investors. There are several, led by Gerald Ford. The guest also discusses the investments of year’s presidential and vice presidential candidates.
Content Highlights
- The most contrarian investor among US presidents? Gerald Ford, the man who pioneered sitting on corporate boards and the presidential speaker circuit (1:24);
- Perhaps unsurprisingly US presidents were quite conservative with their investments, Ford included… (6:37);
- Many presidential investments were also contrarian by avoiding (individual) public equities (11:04);
- Franklin D. Roosevelt was one of several presidents who entered the White House as wealthy individuals — and blew some of it by failing to perform basic due diligence (15:51);
- Another oft-overlooked president, Calvin Coolidge, supplies a classic example of mis-timing the market… (21:11);
- What we know about the investments of this year’s candidates for president and vice president (25:52);
- Another very unsuccessful investor: Ulysses S. Grant. One of the most successful: George Washington (37:14);
- Presidents probably don’t need to own individual stocks. Vice President Kamala Harris exemplifies this (47:18)
More Information on the Guest
- Website: AllThePresidentsMoney.com;
- X: @Megan_E_Gorman.