Wouldn't life be better if you were free of the daily grind - the conventional job and boss - and instead succeeded or failed purely on the merits of your own investment choices? "Free Capital" is a window into this world. Based on a series of interviews with 12 highly successful private investors, it outlines the investing strategies, wisdom and lifestyles of those who have left the world of employment and made millions investing in the markets. How did these people originally start investing in the markets? How did their involvement progress to the point where they could give up their day jobs? And how do they spend their time now? "Free Capital" profiles a range of people who have made significant returns over a long period investing for themselves, in most cases starting with a small amount of initial capital. A number of these investors have now accumulated substantial seven-figure sums in their ISAs. Some have several academic degrees or strong City backgrounds; others left school with few qualifications and are entirely self-taught as investors. Some invest most of their money in very few shares and hold them for years at a time; and, others make dozens of trades every day, and hold them for at most a few hours. Some are inveterate networkers, who spend their day talking to managers at companies in which they invest; for others a share is just a symbol on a screen, and a price chart shows most of what they need to know to make their trading decisions. Free capital - money surplus to immediate living expenses - is the raw material with which these investors work. It can also be thought of as their psychological habitat, free from the petty tribulations of office politics or corporate culture. Lastly, free capital describes the footloose nature of these investors' assets, which can be quickly redirected towards any type of investment anywhere in the world, without the constraints which institutional investors often face. This book provides a unique view into the worlds of these 12 investors, and is an essential source of ideas and inspiration for anyone who wants to achieve similar investing success.
A Note on Names and Details Preface Introduction I - Geographers 1. Luke: The Big Picture 2. Nigel: Catching the Swings II - Surveyors 3. Bill: Just the Facts 4. John Lee: Defensive Value and Dividends 5. Sushil: The Apostate Economist 6. Taylor: The Autodidact 7. Vernon: Buying the Glitch III - Activists 8. Eric: The Networker 9. Owen: Efficiency and Opportunism 10. Peter Gyllenhammar: The Corporate Engineer IV - Eclectics 11. Khalid: The Day Trader 12. Vince: The Tax Exile Conclusion Characteristics of the Free Capitalists Life choices and chances Attitudes Working Methods Summary Table of Investor Characteristics A Note on Research Methods Acknowledgements Endnotes Index