Charley Ellis on How America Actually Got Built (Investing in America Series) | #633

My guest today is Charles Ellis, founder of Greenwich Associates, longtime member of Yale’s investment committee, and author of more than 20 books, including the classic Winning the Loser’s Game.

In today’s episode, Charley reflects on writing the first major book on share repurchases 50 years ago, when the idea was so foreign that Goldman mailed it to 1,000 corporations as a “legitimizer.” Charley also walks us through his new book, Great American Investments: A History of the Bold Initiatives that Shaped a Nation, covering 14 audacious public investments from the Louisiana Purchase to the Marshall Plan. He explains how each came down to one or two obsessed individuals, why Alaska turned out to be the bargain of the century, and how Frances Perkins muscled Social Security into law.

As the episode winds down, he shares the lunch with Sandy Gottesman in the early 1970s that led him to buy Berkshire Hathaway at $700 a share — and hold it ever since.

(0:00) Starts

(1:54) Charley on stock buybacks

(8:06) Current state of investing and behavioral economics

(11:37) Advice for young investors and long-term strategies

(16:41) Charley's new book: Great American Investments: A History of the Bold Initiatives that Shaped a Nation

(25:42) The origins of social Security

(32:46) American entrepreneurship

(36:43) Will AI be the next great American investment?

(42:34) Most memorable investment

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Past guests include Ed Thorp, Richard Thaler, Jeremy Grantham, Joel Greenblatt, Campbell Harvey, Ivy Zelman, Kathryn Kaminski, Jason Calacanis, Whitney Baker, Aswath Damodaran, Howard Marks, Tom Barton, and many more. 

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Editing and post-production work for this episode was provided by The Podcast Consultant (https://thepodcastconsultant.com).

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