They are history’s geniuses. But were they any good at investing?

Does scientific, artistic or political brilliance translate into investing success? It’s a topical question with hedge funds today accused of sucking talent away from the rest of the economy. So, the FT’s Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth sat down with reporter Toby Nangle, who has dug into the archives to assess the investment portfolios of Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Winston Churchill, John Maynard Keynes and other widely regarded geniuses of the past. What Toby found may surprise you, as will the historical wildcard he’s unearthed.

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Want more?

Read Toby’s full FT article here.

Toby’s sources:

On Churchill: https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-More-Champagne-Churchill-Money/dp/1784081817

On J.M.W. Turner:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=5718586

On John Maynard Keynes:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2023011

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2287262

On Einstein:

https://einstein-website.de/en/what-happened-to-the-nobel-prize-money/#:~:text=By%20May%201924%2C%20Mileva%20had,visible%20result%20of%20my%20musings%E2%80%9D.

On Jane Austen:

https://jasna.org/publications-2/persuasions-online/vol36no1/toran/

Hosts: Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth

Guest: Toby Nangle

Producer: Lulu Smyth

Senior Producers: Michela Tindera and Laurence Knight

Executive Producers: Flo Phillips and Manuela Saragosa

Original music: Breen Turner

Broadcast engineers: Bianca Wakeman and Petros Giuompasis

Podcast Development: Laura Clarke

FT Global Head of Audio: Cheryl Brumley

Video editor: Josh Divney at Podcast Discovery

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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