Billionaire Ambitions

+ Jeremy Siegel, Rob Arnott, Roger Ibbotson, Elroy Dimson, Laurence Siegel, Simon Edelsten & More

Author

The Idea Farm
February 23, 2025

Sponsored By

“Money makes money. And the money that money makes, makes money.”

— Benjamin Franklin

Research

Since publishing “Stocks for the Long Run,” Jeremy Siegel has argued that equities make the best long-term investment. However, Edward McQuarrie’s recent paper challenges the long-held belief based on recent data. This video features McQuarrie, Siegel, Rob Arnott, Roger Ibbotson, Elroy Dimson, and Laurence Siegel in a debate over stocks versus bonds and McQuarrie’s new research.

AQR covers two hot topics in today’s market: equity market concentration and technological innovation.

Source: AQR, Bloomberg, S&P Global.

PIMCO - Emerging Markets: The Biggest, Fastest Growing, and Arguably Least Understood Pool of Credit in the World (11 pages)

Pimco published an overview of emerging market debt, which has surpassed U.S. corporate debt to become the world’s largest credit pool.

UBS looks at the trends in billionaire wealth over the past 10 years. Some takeaways:

  • Since 2015, the number of billionaires increased from 1,757 to 2,682. The peak was reached in 2021 with 2,686.

  • Out of the 268 new billionaires in 2024, 60% were entrepreneurs. In 2024, 1,877 billionaires were self-made and 805 multigenerational.

  • Since 2015, tech billionaires’ wealth grew the fastest of any sector, tripling over the time period.

Bonus Content

Jason Zweig explains your financial adviser may have a conflict of interest that you would never even think to ask about. Link

Simon Edelsten explores how playing bridge enhances one's investing skills by fostering pattern recognition, adaptability, and decision-making under uncertainty. Link

Legendary trader John Arnold shared a story about Ken Griffin from 2001 after Enron filed for bankruptcy. Link

S&P Global finds U.S. companies with greater foreign revenue exposure have outperformed their domestic counterparts since the start of 2017. Link

Join a Community of Sophisticated Investors from Industry-Leading Firms

10 East, led by Michael Leffell, allows qualified individuals to invest alongside private market veterans in vetted deals across private credit, real estate, niche venture/private equity, and other one-off investments that aren’t typically available through traditional channels.   

Benefits of 10 East membership include:    

  • Flexibility – members have full discretion over whether to invest on an offering-by-offering basis.   

  • Alignment – principals commit material personal capital to every offering.    

  • Institutional resources – a dedicated investment team that sources, monitors, and diligences each offering.   

Interested investors are encouraged to inquire for membership to unlock 10 East’s detailed track record and upcoming deal flow.

Join with complimentary access at 10east.co

Podcasts

1/26/2025 - 98 minutes

Pollack breaks down the fundamentals of building wealth and the benefits of keeping it simple, consistent and remaining disciplined.

2/7/2025 - 65 minutes

Former Citadel and Millennium PM Mike Taylor explains what makes a successful investor, his portfolio construction process, and why he hopes to ‘die at his desk.’

2/7/2025 - 55 minutes

With licensing now applying to 20% of the U.S. workforce, Rebecca Allensworth calls licensing boards “a thicket of self-dealing and ineptitude” that fail to protect the public.

What Else Is Happening

Endowment Style Investing and 351 ETF Conversions

Meb Faber will host a webinar on Thursday, February 27th at 2pm ET to explain 351 to ETF contributions and provide insights into the Cambria Endowment Style ETF (ENDW). Register here.