Irving Kahn, one of the oldest money managers on Wall Street, passed away this week. The hedge fund manager and finance mogul was 109 years old and astonishingly worked until the year before his death. But while his success was truly long lived, he’s certainly not the only financial adviser to work well past the retirement age. In fact, it’s safe to say that when it comes to knowing investment strategies and how to manoeuvre the stock market, the older you are, the better.
Although the last two decades have shown an increasing trend towards younger finance professionals, which we’ve listed in a previous article, titled the 10 youngest hedge fund billionaires, some experience still only comes with age. Therefore, we’ve compiled a list of the oldest money managers currently active and will take a glimpse at when they started their careers and how they’re reached their prominent positions.
5. Leon Cooperman
With nearly half a century of experience, Leon Cooperman (71) is one of the oldest money managers around. After graduating with his MBA from Colombia Business School in 1967, he spent 22 years developing his skills at none other than Goldman Sachs. Although he earned the position as CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Cooperman left the investment firm in 1991 and founded his own fund management company: Omega Advisors, Inc. And his accumulated knowledge paid off, as Omega brought in $730 million in earnings in 2013. On another note, Cooperman is also a philanthropist, donating large amounts of money to help better education.
4. Nelson Peltz
Although this businessman dedicated most of his 72 years to buying and turning around companies like Snapple, or funding firms from scratch, like Triangle Industries, he’s been active as a fund manager since 2005. After creating Trian Fund Management, L.P., together with his partners Ed Garden and Peter May, the investing firm started purchasing stock in several companies, resulting in earnings of over $430 million just for 2013.
3. Carl Icahn
Not only is Carl Icahn one of the oldest money managers to date, but he’s also one of the most influential ones. As the majority shareholder of the diversified holding company, Icahn Enterprises, he’s one of the leading men when it comes to stock choices and investments. After launching his career on Wall Street in 1961 and forming the securities firm Icahn & Co. seven years later, the broker has garnered so much money that at age 79, he’s considered one of Forbes’ Highest-Earning hedge fund managers.
2. George Soros
At 84 years of age, George Soros is one of the oldest money managers still active on Wall Street, at the hand of his hedge fund, Soros Fund Management. The finance mogul founded his company in 1969, after graduating from the London School of Economics, and has demonstrated time after time that he knows how to run the stock market. Although Soros had a difficult childhood, having had to flee from the Nazi occupation in his home country Hungary, he’s proven to have guts as an investor on several occasions. Making a $1 billion profit by conducting a short sale of $10 billion worth of pounds during the 1992 Black Wednesday UK currency crisis was just one of them.
1. Irving Kahn
The oldest active investment broker on Wall Street, and early disciple of Benjamin Graham – who created the methodology of value investing – was Irving Kahn. The New York City native jump started his career as a broker in 1929, when he made his first trade, merely a few months before the collapse that led to the Great Depression. After several decades of intense labour and gaining stock market wisdom, he founded his own investment firm: Kahn Brothers Group, Inc. And although his oldest son Thomas took on the role of president at the business, Kahn continued to work until his last day. Therefore, at 109, he takes the crown as the oldest money manager.
