Keynes and Graham’s intelligent investor

Abstract

Keynes was a great investor in liquid markets. He operated in the currency, commodity and stock markets. The objective of this article is to describe Keynes’s profile as a stock market investor in the 1930s. He successfully beat the market during that decade. Benjamin Graham’s works are the primary references for stock market researchers and investors, particularly his book The Intelligent Investor. In it, Graham described the profile of an investor capable of beating the market. This article compared Keynes’ practices with those suggested by Graham in order for an investor to be intelligent. The conclusion is that Keynes was not fully Graham’s Intelligent Investor. Keynes was an idiosyncratic investor with unprecedented practices. He was a top-down, bottom-up, buy-and-hold and nondiversified investor.