Thomas Row Price
Thomas Row Price was born in 1898 in Glinden, Maryland. After graduating from high school, Thomas goes to Svartmosk College of Chemistry. As a chemist, he managed to work for several companies before he realized that his true passion was the financial market. He has always been interested in studying the analysis of financial statements, technological products of companies, political and economic development of society.
If he takes some time to get a job at a brokerage firm. Thomas was responsible for working with clients and writing analytical reviews of securities markets. Price did not admire the methods of work of some brokers, who professed an aggressive method of trading. Instead of being blindly subordinate to his superiors, Thomas tries to form a personal opinion about which securities are better for an investor to pay attention to.
This trading strategy is re-emerging with the acquisition of securities from companies that are growing rapidly, are actively developing innovative products and technologies, and have good potential for commercial success. Instead of immediate profit, Price chooses a careful selection of promising companies’ securities and holds their assets for a long time.
He initiates the creation of a separate unit in his company, which has taken over the management of his clients’ investments. Having headed the department, the Price introduces one more point of its activity – formation of client investment portfolios. It helps customers to determine their investment needs and, based on this, to develop an optimal investment strategy that combines stocks, bonds and cash. Thus, Price was one of the first who proposed to place assets in various types of securities.
Over time, Price decides to start his own business and resigns from his previous job. Sometimes he had to work 16 hours a day, but he didn’t complain. For the most promising clients, Thomas offered three free months of asset management in order to show them his potential. If the clients were satisfied with the results of their work, they signed an agreement with him on further work. Thomas’ company grew rapidly and became increasingly popular in the U.S. thanks to Price’s articles on investment strategies in the popular magazine Barren’s.
In 1950 he founded the first investment fund. The next ten years, the financial performance of the fund goes up sharply. In 1960, Thomson Financial published information on various methods of information services, where it reported that the Thomas Row Pryce Foundation showed an unprecedented growth of 500% of net capital.
In the same year, Price establishes a second fund. The main focus of the new institution is on investing in small, recently launched companies with great prospects. The first years of operation were not easy for the fund, and in 1962 the fund’s portfolio is depreciating by 29%. Young companies turned out to be too sensitive to the unfavorable trends in the price dynamics in the securities markets and the economy as a whole. It didn’t suit both the foundation’s clients and Thomas himself. However, Price does not deviate from his own, and gradually the fund’s business begins to go up. Investments in H&R Block, Xerox, Texas Instruments, bring good returns to the fund. In 1968, investing in small businesses became very popular and Price Foundation is literally suffocating from those who want to invest money. For a while, Price even decides to stop accepting deposits, as he began to doubt the benefits of his shareholders’ investments due to very high share prices.