Ray Dalio is a rich American investor who started Bridgewater Associates, which is the biggest hedge fund worldwide.
He uses a special investing plan that involves balancing risk, having funds that work in all weather conditions, and using leverage.
He also believes in being very open about ideas and making decisions fairly based on merit at Bridgewater.
| 🏷️ Category | 📋 Information |
|---|---|
| Name | Raymond Thomas Dalio |
| Born | August 8, 1949 🗽 |
| Education | 🎓 C.W. Post College, Harvard Business School |
| Net Worth | 💰 $19.1B (July 2023) |
| Partner(s) | 👫 Barbara Dalio |
| Style | 📊 Hedging, Risk Parity, Economic Trends |
| Known for | 🌐 Idea Meritocracies, Risk Parity, Economic Insights |
| Facts | 💡 Early Investing, Giving Pledge, Dalio Foundation |
| Quotes | 🗣️ “Success, Aggression, Informed Decisions” |
| Legacy | 💼 World’s Largest Hedge Fund, Bridgewater Insights |
What you'll learn:
➤ Key Highlights
- Name: Raymond Thomas Dalio
- Nickname: People call him the “Steve Jobs of Investing”
- Birthdate: August 8, 1949, in New York City
- Education: He studied at C.W. Post College of Long Island University and Harvard Business School
- How much money he has (as of July 2023): $19.1 billion
- Partner: His partner is Barbara Dalio
- How he invests: He uses techniques like hedging, balancing risk, and trading based on economic trends
- Interesting facts: He bought his first stock when he was only 12 years old. He joined the Giving Pledge in 2011, promising to give away more than half of his money to help others during his life. He made the Dalio Foundation to support projects like meditation, healthcare, education, and oceans research. In 2020, he was ranked as the 79th richest person in the world by Bloomberg.
➤ Known For
He’s famous for promoting “idea meritocracies” and “radical transparency.” He also came up with the “risk parity” approach, which focuses on managing risks in investments rather than just the types of assets.
He also uses history and cause-and-effect relationships to make investment choices. He invests in things like changes in the economy, like how much money a country makes and interest rates.
He has also spoken out about the problem of rich-poor differences and not having enough money to cover social needs.
➤ How Ray Dalio Started
Ray Dalio got into investing at a young age. When he was just 12 years old, he worked as a caddy at a golf club that many important Wall Street figures visited. He listened to their financial advice and used it to make his very first investment: he put $300 into Northeast Airlines. When that investment grew three times its value due to a big merger, he got really interested in investing.
While he didn’t enjoy school much, Dalio found his passions in finance, commodities (like raw materials), and a type of meditation called transcendental meditation while in college. After finishing his MBA at Harvard, he worked in different jobs where he traded securities, often dealing with commodities.
Unfortunately, things took a bad turn in 1974 when Dalio lost his job because he punched his boss after a night of drinking. But in the summer of 1975, he took a big step and started Bridgewater Associates right from his apartment in New York City.
At Bridgewater, he started as a co-chief investment officer, mainly advising on things like currencies and interest rates. However, he made some really good calls in the 1980s that gained a lot of attention. This helped him land big clients like McDonald’s, Eastman Kodak, the World Bank, and government pension funds from all over the world.
➤ Ray Dalio’s Investing Approach
Ray Dalio combines various investing strategies to aim for profits, although the exact details of his portfolios are kept secret. Unlike investors like Warren Buffett and Peter Lynch who focus on stocks, Dalio puts his attention on currencies and fixed-income markets.
One of Dalio’s contributions to the investing world is the risk parity approach. This method organizes portfolios based on the amount of risk, not just the types of assets. He takes bets on global markets and makes trades that align with current economic trends to keep his investments relevant.
These strategies are all part of Dalio’s belief that understanding cause-and-effect relationships can be used to achieve financial success. He has documented these principles and more in his book called “Principles.”
➤ Impact and Influence
Guided by Dalio’s direction, Bridgewater Associates expanded and achieved the status of the world’s largest hedge fund by 2005. The firm introduced groundbreaking strategies like the high-growth “Pure Alpha” trading fund and the more cautious “All Weather” fund.
Even in the present day, Bridgewater’s Daily Observations newsletter remains a valuable resource for investors, policymakers, and central bankers around the globe, offering astute financial perspectives.
While Ray Dalio started to transition away from active leadership roles in 2017, his legacy persists, leaving a lasting imprint on the field of investing.
➤ Popular Quotes by Ray Dalio
“If you can’t successfully do something, don’t think you can tell others how it should be done.”
“If you are not aggressive, you are not going to make money, and if you are not defensive, you are not going to keep money.”
“Listening to uninformed people is worse than having no answers at all.”
— Ray Dalio
