Inspiring black investors: John Rogers' slow and steady strategy has enriched millions of African Americans.AT 46, JOHN W. ROGERS JR. IS A MASTER wealth builder. At such a young age, you might think this shrewd fund manager is unworthy of being called an investment legend. But his entrepreneurial roots run deep. In the 1910s, Rogers' grandfather J.B. Stradford owned a 65-room hotel, a savings and loan savings and loan n. a banking and lending institution, chartered either by a state or the Federal government. Savings and loans only make loans secured by real property from deposits, upon which they pay interest slightly higher than that paid by most banks. firm, and other real estate in Tulsa, Oklahoma--a thriving community dubbed dub 1 tr.v. dubbed, dub·bing, dubs 1. To tap lightly on the shoulder by way of conferring knighthood. 2. To honor with a new title or description. 3. the "Black Wall Street." During the Tulsa Race Riot The Tulsa Race Riot, also known as the 1921 Race Riot, The Night That Tulsa Died, the Tulsa Race War, or the Greenwood Riot, was a large-scale civil disorder confined mainly to the racially segregated Greenwood neighborhood of Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA in of 1921, roughly 10,000 armed whites looted loot n. 1. Valuables pillaged in time of war; spoils. 2. Stolen goods. 3. Informal Goods illicitly obtained, as by bribery. 4. and burned down this early model of black affluence. Almost a century later, his grandson is one of the most powerful blacks on Wall Street. In 1983, Rogers' asset management firm, Ariel Capital Management, launched the first family of equity mutual funds managed by African Americans African American Multiculture A person having origins in any of the black racial groups of Africa. See Race. . Along the way, Rogers developed a novel brand of value investing Value Investing The strategy of selecting stocks that trade for less than their intrinsic value. Value investors actively seek stocks of companies with sound financial statements that they believe the market has undervalued. that produced blockbuster returns for millions of institutional and individual investors. And this visionary didn't stop there. He created the first and only survey, in partnership with Charles Schwab Charles Schwab can refer to:
Over the past two decades, Rogers has boosted his clients' net worth through a philosophy based on an old Aesop fable: Slow and steady wins the race. That attitude and some rather astute as·tute adj. Having or showing shrewdness and discernment, especially with respect to one's own concerns. See Synonyms at shrewd. [Latin ast stock picking--identifying out-of-favor or undiscovered small and mid-cap companies that became investment gems--has taken Ariel from a newsletter to the No. 1 firm on the BE ASSET MANAGERS list with more than $16 billion in assets under management Assets Under Management (AUM) is a term used by financial services companies in the mutual fund and money management or investment management business to gauge how much money they are managing. . And throughout the years, Rogers has maintained his laser-beam focus on performance. As of Oct. 31, 2004, his flagship funds, Ariel and Ariel Appreciation, received four-star ratings from Morningstar and gained recognition from Lipper Analytical Services in the areas of capital preservation and total return. As of Sept. 30, 2004, the average annual five-year returns for Ariel Fund and Ariel Appreciation Fund were 14.70% and 11.14%, respectively. Rogers has been a student of the financial markets since the age of 12. On his birthday, his father converted him into an active investor through the gift of stock. For the next six years, while his friends received the usual birthday and Christmas presents, the budding budding, type of grafting in which a plant bud is inserted under the bark of the stock (usually not more than a year old). It is best done when the bark will peel easily and the buds are mature, as in spring, late summer, or early autumn. asset manager obtained securities. By 18, he was fully managing his holdings. After college, Rogers worked as an analyst for a Chicago brokerage for two years before launching Ariel. Only 24 at the time, he was ready to take the entrepreneurial plunge. In 1983, he developed a newsletter, The Patient Investor, which described his stock picks, and arranged for several clients to invest $500,000 in the Ariel Fund. By 1986, it had grown to $2 million. Rogers brought on Calvert Group Inc., a financial services The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. company, to serve as the distributor and transfer agent. But eight years later, in a bold move to gain independence, he paid $4 million as part of a separation agreement with Calvert and assumed responsibility for all of the fund's operations. "We went from managing $2.3 billion to $1.1 billion over a short period of time, and it was extraordinarily comfortable and frightening," says Rogers, whose employees all own shares of the fund. Rogers' dedication to investment performance and financial literacy Financial literacy is the ability of individuals to make appropriate decisions in managing their personal finances. Raising levels of financial literacy is now a focus of government programmes in countries including[1] Australia, Japan, the United States and the UK. enabled Ariel to compete against juggernauts such as Fidelity, Vanguard, and Citigroup--companies that handle trillion of dollars in assets. Ariel has also proven successful in its expansion of individual investors and in attracting market segments largely ignored by other Wall Street firms. In fact, a number of African Americans became first-time investors by placing their hard-earned dollars in one of Ariel's funds. For Rogers, no investor is too small or too young. Through the Ariel Education Initiative, his firm teaches public school students about the mechanics of the stock market. Consider it the second phase of his wealth-building mission--creating the next generation of black investors. 35 BLACK YEARS ENTERPRISE As part of our 35th anniversary salute, BUICK ENTERPRISE presents Ultimate wealth Builders--a monthly series profiling entrepreneurs, financiers, and corporate chieftains. Through innovative thinking, these men and women have had an immeasurable impact on the wealth-building potential of black Americans. For profiles of all of our Ultimate Wealth Builders, go to www.blackenterprise.com. |
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