Mar

1

Irving Kahn is the oldest trader on Wall Street.

Here is a picture of Irving Kahn included in special free section of Nature on aging.

Mr. Kahn is now 107.

Correction:

World's oldest Value Investor. Duly noted (hat tip to Mr. Melvin) that Irving Kahn is a former Ben Graham assistant and likes to buy and hold for long time– and not really a "trader" per se.

From the WSJ:


Discipline has been a key for Mr. Kahn. He still works five days a week, slacking off only on the occasional Friday. He reads voraciously, including at least two newspapers every day and numerous magazines and books, especially about science. His abiding goal, he told me, is "to know much more about the stock I'm buying than the man who's selling does." What has enabled him to live so long? "No secret," he said. "Just nature's way." He added, speaking of unwholesome lifestyles: "Millions of people die every year of something they could cure themselves: lack of wisdom and lack of ability to control their impulses."

Here is a link to his current portfolio (he includes a land-based driller). 

Leo Jia adds: 

Wondering if the strategy of buy-and-hold can make one live longer than the strategies of short-term trading. It may seem to have some merit in the sense that a buy-and-hold'er has a very long-term prospect, and the long-term mind in-turn affect his body in ways of body-mind interaction.


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2 Comments so far

  1. World’s Oldest Value Investor | Fifth Estate on March 2, 2013 1:53 pm

    […] See full story on dailyspeculations.com […]

  2. Andrew Goodwin on March 4, 2013 5:24 am

    Irving graciously agreed to meet with me upon the completion of my undergraduate degree to give career advice about 25 years ago. I presented him with a naive theory that publicly reported insider purchases could yield superior returns if followed. At the time I received by first class mail a report put out by a service called Vickers.

    Irving advised me that his work indicated that no great advantage rested in such reportage. He then let me know that he recently had done well through investments in savings and loans companies. A distressed industry at that time, he told me that he had profited from a once in a lifetime value opportunity he had perceived.

    Although then, as a new traveler in investment finance, I was too immature to appreciate the wisdom of this man 60+ years my senior, his words resound now.

    If I could have understood what Irving said, and he was quite clear, then I would have pursued a more profitable direction.

    It is one thing to hear wisdom and another thing to have the wisdom to act upon it.

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