It is a curious investigation, the one prepared by the periodical Bloomberg Markets, which questioned some known billionaires, From different sectors and countries, to understand how they are experiencing this difficult economic phase and to ask what strategies to adopt in investments. The basic assumption is simple: equities are losing ground, Europe seems to be in short circuit, cash offers minuscule returns, the prices of raw materials undergo rapid and uncontrollable swings in both directions.
So what to do? The multibillionaires, it is supposed, have a privileged observatory from which to interpret and predict the movements of the markets. But their opinions have not always proved convergent, except perhaps in predicting a weakening of the euro.
For several of them, moreover, I am from also avoid hedge funds today. The eighty-six-year-old lawyer Joe Jamail, Houston lawyer of Lebanese origins, familiarly known as the “King of Torts” (as if to say the king of torts), one of the three hundred richest men in America, has invested a large part of his fortune in bonds and cash, while not would never invest in hedge funds: "Rather than that crap, I'd buy cocaine," he replied to Bloomberg.
As for thegold, there are those who consider it a buying opportunity (Mikhail Prokhorov, Russian, 46 years old, main shareholder of Polyus Gold, Russia's largest gold company), who sees it as both an enigma and a bubble (Patrick Soon Shiong, 59 years old, pharmaceutical industrialist, born in South Africa and residing in Los Angeles, known for his minority stake in the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team), who considers it an excellent parking lot for current situations (John Paul de Joria, 67 years old, owner of chains of beauty salons in the USA, if he were to invest a million dollars now, he would recommend allocating 25% of the total to gold and another 25% to silver), who still believes it suitable for precious gifts, but the million dollars would prefer to keep it in the mattress today (Joe Jamail, the lawyer cited above).
For the rest? A keep an eye on consumer confidence indexes and employment data (supports the American banker Eli Broad, 78, who still prefers a nice Picasso to gold or Treasury bonds) and above all a large trust in your nose (Alisher Usmanov, 58, Russian mining and metallurgical tycoon, shareholder of Arsenal football club).
Of course, even the richest people on the planet make some bad investments: Donald Trump, 65 years old, with immense real estate and television properties, recalls with satisfaction the purchase of the famous 40 Wall Street, the skyscraper which in 1930 was the tallest building in the world. Instead he tries to forget the money spent on a yacht, which has turned out to be an expensive toy full of problems.
Perhaps Prokhorov would not be of the same opinion: "if I had to advise how to invest a million dollars - he says - I would only propose to spend it, but with satisfaction".
