Tuesday, July 8, 2008

John Templeton Has Died

Billionaire, former mutual fund manager,Sir John M. Templeton has died. Templeton ran some of the most successful mutual funds during the initial boom years for mutual funds.

In 1939, when World War II began in Europe and the stock market was at record lows, Templeton borrowed $10,000 and bought 100 shares each in 104 companies that were selling at $1 a share or less, including 34 in bankruptcy. A few years later, he made large profits on 100 of the companies; four turned out to be worthless.

Templeton renounced his American citizenship in the 1960's and moved to the Bahamas.

He said his investment record improved after he distanced himself from Wall Street and no longer worried about the tax consequences of his decisions.

He was an early investor in Japan in the 1960’s and later in Russia, China and other Asian markets.

Templeton died at the age of 95.

4 comments:

  1. Wasn’t he the first benefactor of the Heritage Foundation? I think he was one of the few Billionnaires who funded conservative think tanks. May God welcome him into heaven.

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  2. Templeton renounced his American citizenship in the 1960's and moved to the Bahamas.
    Make sure he is buried in the Bahamas...

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  3. “Templeton was known for funding religion and science projects, donating millions to religious leaders, scholar, and scientists “
    http://blog.christianitytoday.com/ctliveblog/archives/2008/07/philanthropist.html

    Kind of looks that he might have known where to permanently store his riches US citizen or not.

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  4. Think of the mass exodus of capital from this country when 0bama becomes President. Yikes!

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