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36-591: Guy Spier (born February 4, 1966) is a Zurich -based investor. He is the author of The Education of a Value Investor . Spier is the manager of the Aquamarine Fund with $ 400 million in assets. He is well known for bidding US$ 650,100 with Mohnish Pabrai for a charity lunch with Warren Buffett in 2008. In 2009, he was featured in The Checklist Manifesto , by Atul Gawande regarding his use of checklists as part of his investment process. He

72-488: A Stronger Role for Local Rating Agencies" . Spier makes no secret of his investment in Care Ratings which stands to benefit from greater involvement of local ratings agencies in the rating of sovereign debt. Spier regularly addresses students and other audiences at universities including MIT, Ivey School of Business, Harvard Business School, Guanghua School of Management and Google. From 2000 to 2005, Spier served as

108-468: A charity lunch with Buffett. Another book by Pabrai is Mosaic: Perspectives on Investing . In this book, Pabrai has distilled the Warren Buffett method of investing down to a few points. These points are made in a series of articles he authored for various newsletters and web sites between 2001 and 2003 (the book reprints these articles in reverse chronological order). Pabrai's approach to life

144-421: A country. But increasingly it is deviating from that path. Despite having a well-educated labour force, plenty of capital and the intangible infrastructure of a developed country, it is slipping down the ranks." . In 2024 Spier joined V. Anantha Nageswaran in calling for a revision of India's current BBB- sovereign credit rating Arguing in an article for Horasis that, "India Deserves a Better Credit Rating and

180-512: A long way to go". In 2003, along with David Einhorn , Bill Ackman , and Whitney Tilson, Spier became the target of investigations by Eliot Spitzer , then the New York Attorney General , as well as by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding short sales of Farmer Mac , MBIA , and Allied Capital . The meltdown of these companies during the 2007–2008 financial crisis vindicated their short thesis and became

216-402: A regime had been in place before last weekend, every tabloid which published photographs of Princess Diana and Dodi on their summer holidays would have been required to pay the resulting profits to them. I do not think that it would take too fine a legal mind to distinguish between public events, such as speeches and hospital visits, and private events, such as a ski trip with one's children or

252-546: A ride in a car with a friend. " In 2002, writing for the Financial Times , Spier questioned the motives of the directors of the Hershey Trust Company for selling out their stake asking, "Why would anybody in their right mind want to trade a significant share of Hershey, with its excellent characteristics, for an insignificant share of a hotchpotch of US business, probably chosen by some adviser who

288-418: Is better at getting selected than at delivering investment performance?" . In 2022, Spier took issue with the economic policies of Liz Truss and Kwasi Kwarteng . In an opinion piece for Financial Times he wrote, "Investors like myself are looking for such jurisdictions and regions – where there is a government that takes intelligent decisions and allocates resources rationally. The UK used to be such

324-651: Is covered extensively in Guy Spier's book, The Education of a Value Investor, in particular in a chapter titled "Doing Business the Buffett-Pabrai Way". In 2005, Pabrai and his wife, Harina Kapoor started the Dakshana Foundation (an offering or gift, typically to a guru or priest) with the goal of recycling most of their wealth back to society. Their starting point is to give back approximately 2%, or US$ 1 million every year. The initial goal

360-406: Is known for mentoring young investors and being an active member of the value investing community. He often engages with other investors through interviews, podcasts, and social media, fostering a sense of community and collaboration. His talks often focus on the psychological aspects of investing, ethical considerations, and the importance of continuous learning. Spier organizes VALUEx BRK, which

396-679: Is organized in conjunction with the annual Berkshire Hathaway shareholder meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. Spier is known for founding the VALUEx conference in Klosters in 2011 and organizing it yearly. It brings together a small group of value investors from around the world to discuss investment ideas, share insights, and network in an informal and collaborative setting. Spier lives in Zurich with his wife Lory and three children – Eva, Isaac and Sarah. He

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432-1080: Is related to the Lazard , Speyer and Rothschild banking families through his great-great-grandmother, Johanna Lazard. He is a former resident of Tuxedo Park, New York , the village constructed by Pierre Lorillard in the late 1800s, where he lived in the Bruce Price Cottage . He is a member of Entrepreneurs' Organization and of the Young Presidents' Organization and of the Westminster Synagogue . Mohnish Pabrai Pabrai worked with Tellabs between 1986–91, first in its high speed data networking group, and then in 1989, joined its international subsidiary, working in international marketing and sales. In 1991, he started his IT consulting and systems integration company, TransTech, Inc. with about US$ 30,000 from his own 401(k) account and US$ 70,000 from credit card debt. He sold

468-574: Is the alleviation of poverty in India. The tool that has been chosen is to provide tutoring services to some of the least privileged members of Indian society, and to enable them to attend some of the elite institutions of higher learning. Pabrai credits Anand Kumar , the founder of Ramanujan School of Mathematics (also known as the Super 30) with originating this idea. Pabrai's father variously founded, bankrupted, or sold 15 companies. Pabrai's grandfather

504-711: Is the brother of Tanya de Jager and the grandson of Selmar Spier , the German-Israeli jurist, historian, foreign correspondent and farmer. Spier was born in 1966 in Pietermaritzburg , South Africa . When he was three months old, his family moved to Tel Aviv , Israel , where he attended kindergarten. In 1970, his family moved to Iran , where he attended the British Embassy School in Tehran . In 1977, his family moved again to Richmond in

540-862: The Treasury and the U.S. Department of Labor . A visiting professor at the University of British Columbia and Queen's University in Canada, he also lectured in China, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Lesotho, Poland, Russia, and the United States. He was visiting professor at the London School of Economics and University of Warwick , and chairman of the Royal Economic Society Easter School , and

576-726: The UK , and he attended the City of London Freemen's School , in Ashtead , Surrey , as a weekly boarder. In 1984, he matriculated to study law at Brasenose College, Oxford , where he was tutored by Hugh Collins , Peter Birks and Mary Stokes, among others. Two years later, in 1986, he switched to study PPE ( Politics, Philosophy and Economics ). Among his tutors was Peter Sinclair for Economics – where he occasionally shared tutorials with David Cameron , who would go on to become Prime Minister . He also studied politics with Vernon Bogdanor . Although he

612-545: The University of Oxford , where he gained his BA and doctorate. His first job was in the export department of Linde AG in Germany. This sharpened his lifelong interest in international economics. Peter Sinclair taught at Oxford from 1970 to 1994, mainly in economic theory, monetary policy and international economics , as fellow and tutor in Economics at Brasenose College . In 1994 he became Professor of Economics at

648-580: The Credit Crunch" which argued that part of the cause of the 2008 crisis was short-termism leading to the miscalculation of bonuses at credit rating and other financial firms. He has also strongly advocated in favor of zero management fees when it comes to professional investment management. Spier has advocated for Switzerland to become a centre of true investing excellence, writing "while Switzerland's biotech, health and technology clusters are extraordinarily well developed, Swiss private banking still has

684-697: The Delaware Court of Bankruptcy to form an official committee of equity holders of head Corporation which had filed for bankruptcy earlier that year. In 2019, in a YouTube interview with Tilman Versch of ValueDACH, Spier likened the art of stock picking to "drunks in bars" also referencing Dan Bilzerian . In 2020, Spier hosted a panel on "The Future of Intelligent Investing" with Niall Ferguson , Sandy Climan , and Daniel Aegerter . Spier hosts an annual investment conference in Klosters called "VALUEx". Attendees have included Joe Chapman and Richard Reese,

720-689: The Economic Times of India he stated "I think that India is going to be an exciting place to be for the next 50 years." In 2017, Spier joined the newly formed board of the Swiss Friends of Oxford University. He also serves on the board of UN Watch and on the advisory boards of Horasis and World Minds . He is also a member of the International Council of the Global Leadership Foundation , which

756-598: The International Economics Study Group. In 2016 he married the environmental artist, Jayne Ivimey. His non-economics interests included architecture, history, and languages. Sinclair's most notable former student was David Cameron , who described Sinclair as "one of the cleverest people I ever met". Others include King Letsie III , Camilla Cavendish , Peter Conradi , Diane Coyle , Tim Harford , Lieutenant General Michelle D. Johnson , Dave Ramsden , Guy Spier , Abhisit Vejjajiva and

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792-873: The London and Paris offices, Spier worked with colleagues David Pitt-Watson , Michael Liebreich , and others in advising British and European companies on their strategy vis-a-vis the European Common market . He subsequently took up an internship at the Forward Studies Unit (Cellule de Prospective) at the European Commission in Brussels . In his book, Spier writes that although he interviewed with white-shoe firms like Goldman Sachs and J. P. Morgan during his last year at Harvard Business School , he turned down these firms to work for

828-681: The President of the Oxford Alumni Association of New York with the close support of Amanda Pullinger . Under his and Pullinger's leadership, the association grew to over 5,000 members and was a pioneer in bringing an American style approach on alumni relations to a British university. From 2007 to 2009, Spier served on the advisory board of the Dakshana Foundation . Spier has frequently promoted India as an attractive investment destination. In an interview with

864-653: The University of Birmingham. He retired in 2012, but continued teaching as an Emeritus Professor until his illness and death in March 2020. Sinclair published widely on a range of topics in economics, including the optimal rate of inflation, central bank independence , the costs and benefits of monetary union , and international trade policy. He became Director of the Bank of England 's Centre for Central Banking Studies in 2000 where he taught central bank staff from all over

900-434: The box. More recently, Spier has eschewed all forms of activism, stating, "My goal as an investor is to compound money for my shareholders, not to pick unnecessary fights or conduct myself like an avenging moral crusader." Spier has regularly advocated for probity and modesty in the management of financial firms. In 2008, Spier published a paper along with Peter Sinclair and Tom Skinner on "Bonuses, Credit Rating Agencies and

936-623: The company in 2000 to Kurt Salmon Associates for US$ 20 million. Today he is the managing partner of the Pabrai Investment Funds (a family of hedge funds inspired by Buffett Partnerships), which he founded in 1999. Pabrai has high regard for Warren Buffett and has said that his investment style is "cloned" from Buffett and other value investors. He has written a book on his investing style: The Dhandho Investor: The Low - Risk Value Method to High Returns . In June 2007, he made headlines by bidding US$ 650,100 with Guy Spier for

972-517: The former CEO of Iron Mountain . Spier is an occasional financial commentator in the media. In 2022, the final Glide Foundation charity lunch with Warren Buffett sold for $ 19,000,100 which is thirty times more than the sum that Spier and Pabrai paid. In 1997, Spier spoke out in The Independent against the increasing intrusion of paparazzi in British public life, writing "...if such

1008-509: The fund today, and it had $ 300 million in AUM as of June 2021. Spier follows closely Warren Buffett's principles on value investing and capital allocation. However, he also admits that value investing has changed over time as the popularity of the style means that generally fewer opportunities are available to investors. Ideas that will work would still be around, but the successful value investor of today has to look further and sometimes think outside

1044-468: The lesser-known D.H. Blair . There, as a Vice President , he sought funding for new technology startups. Spier subsequently described this experience as "not dissimilar" to the movie Wolf of Wall Street . It was a career decision that he quickly came to regret. Upon leaving investment banking, Spier founded the Aquamarine Fund, an investment partnership inspired by, and styled after, Warren Buffett's 1950s investment partnerships. Spier continues to manage

1080-570: The subject of books by Ackman and Einhorn. In 2014, Palgrave MacMillan published The Education of a Value Investor which narrates Spier's early career struggles in investment banking on Wall Street and his transformation into a value investor. The book has sold more than 175,000 copies in English and has been translated into Spanish, German, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Polish, Hebrew, and Vietnamese. In 2016, Spier, along with Phil Town and Matthew Peterson, successfully petitioned Judge Sontchi at

1116-518: The world, both in London and overseas. Sinclair maintained a connection with the Bank of England after leaving CCBS in 2008, including as a visiting academic, advising on research and teaching graduate entrants for many years. He also advised numerous overseas central banks. He contributed to a number of CCBS and Bank of England publications, including the Bank's Quarterly Bulletin, often providing an academic's perspective on contemporary monetary issues. He

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1152-429: Was famous magician Gogia Pasha. Peter J. N. Sinclair Peter James Niven Sinclair (18 September 1946 – 31 March 2020) was a British economist. He was Professor, and subsequently Emeritus Professor, in Economics at the University of Birmingham . Previously, he had been a fellow and tutor at Brasenose College, Oxford . Sinclair grew up in London and Norfolk and was educated at Gresham's School and

1188-508: Was founded by Nobel Peace Prize winner F. W. de Klerk . Spier has been increasingly in the spotlight for more than a decade. In 2010, one episode of the documentary series 'Legends & Leaders in Hedge Funds and Finance,' directed by Matthias Knab, was focused on him and his investing style. The website Dataroma tracks the portfolio of Guy Spier among other value oriented Superinvestors by extracting data from financial filings. Spier

1224-575: Was offered places both in the Joint Business and Economics PhD program and at the MBA Program at Harvard . He opted to do the MBA and, in 1993, he completed his MBA. Contemporaries at HBS include Mark Pincus , Chris Hohn and Sherry Coutu . From 1988 to 1990, Spier was an associate at Braxton Associates, the strategy consulting firm which was later sold to Deloitte Consulting . Based out of

1260-563: Was the author of numerous articles and books on economics, one written with his first wife, the late economist Shelagh Heffernan, who was Professor of Banking and Finance at the Cass Business School , City University London . His main research interests included inflation, unemployment, and tax questions, often in the open economy setting. He served as a consultant to the Financial Services Authority ,

1296-545: Was thoroughly mediocre at Politics, he proved to be a capable economist and graduated with a First-class degree , having also been awarded the Georg Webb Medley Prize for his performance in Economics. During his university summers, Spier also completed courses of study at Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg and at Harvard Summer School . He also interned with Creditanstalt in London . In 1990, Spier

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