Biography of Benjamin Graham, The Intelligent Investor

In my experience of being in Wall Street for 50 years, I know very little about what's been done by the stock market. But I do know what Investors should do and that is the most important changing factor that should be present in an investor

Quote from Benjamin Graham

As we can see that lots of famous investors come and go by every minute. There is also one individual that has been an icon and is considered respectful gone by the past time. However, if we were to come up with an example of a person that has contributed so much to the investment world, that person will be no other than Benjamin Graham also known as the Intelligent Investor.


His contribution will forever be belonging since his knowledge has given benefits to the people of today. It is probably the biggest contribution that we can see in the world of investment that we manage to put to good use today.

We take a look at this security analysis book by Benjamin Graham which is considered relevant until today perhaps even 100 years of time from now.

Background of Benjamin Graham

Benjamin Graham was born on 9 Mei, 1894 in London, England. He is known to be Jewish and he moved to New York with his family when he was one year old. 

After his father's death, he and his family were in an economic crisis. However, this did not break his spirit to perform well in his schools and be a good student in his academics.

Excels in Academics 

After finishing his studies with flying colors, he was offered many jobs in which some of which consist of becoming a teacher in Mathematics, English, Philosophy, and more. However, he turned down all those offers since he is more interested in becoming a full-time investor. He managed to get in touch and had an agreement with Jerome Newman. Together they established their very own investment firm called Graham-Newman Corporation. 

At first, Benjamin Graham was once known as 'John D. North Rockefeller' because he invested a lot in building oil pipes in North America.

Wall Street at 20 Years Old

Benjamin Graham first started his career at Wall Street in 1914. This happened before the break of operation of the New York Stock Exchange(NYSE). To your surprise, in written history, the longest break operation at NYSE ever to happen was at that particular time which was 4 months. This is due to the World War that took place.

When he was 20 years old, without any sort of knowledge in the economic field during college, he was forced to start a new career at the lowest position available.

Not long after that, he was promoted to assistant bond manager, and only in 6 weeks' time, he managed to move even further. He was eventually assigned to become a writer or market analyst in a daily newspaper company.

Started Teaching at 34

Benjamin Graham started his teaching career at Columbia Business School for 28 years in which he started in 1928. At the same time, he also teaches New York Stock Exchange School, which is now known as the New York Institute of Finance. 

Through his efforts, he manages to produce lots of famous scholars in the investment field. Some of them include Walter Schloss, Irving Kahn, and Bill Ruane. Not just that but he also managed to produce a living legend of investors that we can see today which is Warren Buffet through the adaptation of Benjamin Graham's philosophy.

One of Warren Buffet's Quote:

I read the first edition of that book in 1950 and at that time I was 19 yearls old. I believed that this book has a very high level of knowledge in the investment world and as long as mankind constantly learn about the investment world, the name Benjamin Graham will forever be remembered and belonging as an individual that provides the guide to investing throught the most easiest understanding

If that's not enough, one of the most famous journalists in America Roger Lowenstein also once said:

Investing without Graham will be like communism without Marx, the disciple would scarcely exist

Jason Zweig who is one of the popular journalists for the Wallstreet Journal also said

Before the existence of the ideology of Benjamin Grahaam, management of money was like the middle ages driven by superstitious belief, guessing and performing spiritual that is inhumane

This clearly shows the importance of the teachings brought by Benjamin Graham in the investment world since it has opened a lot of people's perception of what investment truly is and he has been followed by a lot of people these days.
If we were to see it in a simple way by taking an example of the involvement of the Wright Brothers in the aviation world. Before they are well-known as the best figure in the aviation field, Benjamin Graham will invest in their expertise.

He understands the state of the stocks at that time, looking at the price of the current shares, it was simply not the same as what is stated by the news in comparison with the business quality that they have.

One of his statements at that time was:

In the Wright Aeronautica example, the earlier the situation presented a set of facts which demonstrated that the business was worth substantially more than $8 per share. In the later year, the facts were equally conclusive that the business have a reasonable value of $280 per share. It would have been difficult for the analyst to determine whether Wright Aeronautical was actually worth $20 or $40 a share, or actually worth $50 or $80. But unfortunately it was not necessary to decide these points in order to conclude that the shares were attractive at $8 and unattractive, intrinsically, at $280

We can definitely learn a lot from the stories of Benjamin Graham and his huge contribution to the investment world that we can see today. Perhaps it was something that we can set as an example to become like him one day and teach others out there about the great Benjamin Graham.

What do you guys think of Benjamin Graham? Do you think you have what it takes to follow in his footsteps?

Source: Majalah Labur

Also read: 10 Billionaires and The Cars They Drive