Math whiz turned finance mogul, multi-millionaire.

Samiksha

The statement "To become rich, one must have knowledge; wealth comes from knowledge" is quite accurate! Today, I want to talk about someone praised by the Financial Times as the "smartest billionaire on Earth" – James Simmons, who is also a genius mathematician. Among the highest-earning hedge fund managers in the world, he quietly made 150 billion yuan on Wall Street.

James Simmons was born in 1938, the son of a shoe factory owner in Massachusetts. He graduated from MIT with a degree in mathematics at the age of 20 and earned a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley, at the age of 23. In the 1960s, Simmons stayed in the United States Defense Research Institute, conducting research at institutions like MIT and Harvard University. In 1976, Simmons received the National Medal of Science, becoming a renowned mathematician and enjoying applause at a young age. Then Simmons plunged into Wall Street, a world-famous financial center in the United States and the world. Financial giants such as the Rothschild family, Morgan family, Rockefeller oil magnates, Goldman Sachs, DuPont family, etc., have established banks, insurance, shipping, railways, and other companies here. The tycoons who come in and out of here don't see money as a concept; it's just a string of numbers.

In 1978, Simmons founded an investment fund and ventured into Wall Street, beginning his journey to make money. However, he remained low-key and silent while accumulating substantial wealth. Interestingly, Simmons' Renaissance Technologies developed many mathematical models for analysis and trading. Although Renaissance Technology experts were not professional financiers, they might be mathematicians, physicists, and statisticians, but they demonstrated real talent in the financial world. No wonder the saying goes that studying math, physics, and chemistry will take you anywhere in the world. In 2006, Simmons was selected as the Financial Engineer of the Year by the International Association for Quantitative Finance, but he also fell victim to the Madoff scam. He lost $5.4 million in the Madoff scheme, but in 2006, he donated $25 million to Stony Brook University for research in mathematics and physics.

As widely known, Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha, controls a vast amount of wealth. This is the concept of making money from money. In April 2020, Warren Buffett ranked third in the world with a fortune of 590 billion yuan. However, Simmons, who manages the low-key Medallion Fund, consistently outperformed Buffett's average annual return. It is understood that from 1989 to 2009, Simmons' trading volume was more than 10 percentage points higher than Buffett and the financial giant Soros.

Ritu13

Their thinking is different from that of ordinary people like us.

Yamini003

Very reasonable, using one's own intelligence to make money. A mathematical genius like this has the potential to achieve it.

Shri333

Is it easy for smart people to make money?

Indra55

I feel that individuals who excel in mathematics usually have great prospects.

Iti9

All their time is spent on studying, so it's only natural for them to make money as well.