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Learn the Art of Investing from the Greatest Economist of the Twentieth Century

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25.04.2021

At the time of his death, John Maynard Keynes’ net worth – almost entirely built through successful stock investments – amounted to the present-day equivalent of more than $30 million.

Accessible and informative, Investing with Keynes identifies what modern masters of the market have taken from Keynes and used in their own investing styles – and what you too can learn from one of the greatest economic thinkers of the twentieth century.

‘Some surprise has been expressed about the large fortune left by Lord Keynes. Yet Lord Keynes was one of the few economists with the practical ability to make money.’

Financial Times, September 30, 1946

In September 1946, five months after his death, the bequest of John Maynard Keynes was made public. His net assets totaled just under £480,000 – of which around £400,000 was in stocks and other securities, with the bulk of the remainder comprising his art collection and rare books – the equivalent of around $30 million in today’s money. Although Keynes had secured a number of board positions at leading City institutions and had received considerable royalties from some of his better-selling books, general amazement greeted news of his fortune. He had, after all, spent most of the preceding six years as an unpaid Treasury adviser; his parents had outlived him and therefore provided no inheritance; and Keynes, a great arts patron, had funded many cultural ventures out of his own pocket.

As suggested in the salmon-pink pages of the Financial Times, it was indeed Keynes’ skill in the art of moneymaking that contributed to the bulk of his riches. Keynes’ facility with money was not just limited to his own account, however. King’s College – Keynes’ spiritual, intellectual, and sometimes physical home – was also a beneficiary of his financial acumen. In its obituary on Keynes, the Manchester Guardian reported that:

As bursar of his own college in Cambridge . . . he was conspicuously successful, and by bold and unorthodox methods he increased very greatly the value of its endowments.

Although little known to the wider world, in certain circles Keynes’ investment expertise was prized. There are stories of other college bursars making the pilgrimage to King’s College, where Keynes would lounge Buddha-like and regally impart investment wisdom to an eager audience. A colleague noted that “such was his influence in the City and his reputation abroad” that markets would move in response to his speeches delivered as Chairman of the National Mutual Life Assurance Society. He sat on the boards of numerous investment companies, from which he would, with the unwavering conviction of a papal decree, declaim his views on the stock market and government economic policy.

This aspect of Keynes – the shrewd investor, the canny player of financial markets – is rather unexpected in light of the man’s early life and beliefs. Keynes was an aesthete, his first allegiance to philosophy and the art of living well. At school and university he displayed little interest in worldly matters, and for the remainder of his life exhibited an intensely ambivalent attitude to the pursuit of wealth. He believed in Francis Bacon’s dictum that money makes a good servant but a bad master – in Keynes’ formulation, money’s merit lay solely in its ability to secure and maintain the conditions allowing one to “live wisely and agreeably and well.” Like economics itself, money was a mere expedient, nothing other than “a means to the enjoyment and realities of life”, and moneymaking little more than an “amusement.”

To read more, pre-order your copy of Investing with Keynes today!

Investing With Keynes
About the Book - Investing With Keynes

Keynes was a many-sided figure - world-changing economist, architect of the post-War international monetary system, bestselling author, a Baron in the House of Lords, and key member of the Bloomsbury group. One of his lesser-known talents was the ability to…

About the Author - Justyn Walsh

Justyn Walsh is CEO of BridgeLane Agriculture Partners, an asset management firm focused on the conversion of large-scale agricultural holdings to organically accredited and regeneratively farmed operations.

To read more, order your copy of Investing With Keynes, by Justyn Walsh today!

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