John Templeton

John Marks Templeton was born in the town of Winchester, Tennessee, and attended Yale University, where he was an assistant business manager for campus humour magazine Yale Record and was selected for membership in the Elihu society.[3] He financed a portion of his tuition by playing poker, a game at which he excelled.[4] He graduated in 1934 near the top of his class. He attended the Balliol College in Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned an M.A. in law. He was a CFA charterholder[5] and was a student of the "father of value investing", Benjamin Graham.[6][7]

Templeton, during the Depression of the 1930s, bought 100 shares of each NYSE listed company which was then selling for less than $1 a share ($18 today) (104 companies, 34 in bankruptcy, in 1939), later making many times the money back when USA industry picked up as a result of World War II.[8] According to Templeton, he called his broker the day World War II began and instructed him to purchase every stock trading at less than a dollar. This stratagem helped make him a wealthy man.

Templeton became a billionaire[9][10][11][12][13][14] by pioneering the use of globally diversified mutual funds. His Templeton Growth Fund, Ltd. (investment fund), established in 1954, was among the first to invest in Japan in the middle of the 1960s.[15] Templeton also created funds specifically in certain industries such as nuclear energy, chemicals, and electronics. By 1959, Templeton went public, with five funds and more than 66 million dollars under management.[1]

In 2006 he was listed in a seven-way tie for 129th place on The Sunday Times's "Rich List". He rejected technical analysis for stock trading, preferring instead to use fundamental analysis.[12] Money magazine in 1999 called him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century".[16]

Templeton attributed much of his success to his ability to maintain an elevated mood, avoid anxiety and stay disciplined.[17] Uninterested in consumerism, he drove his own car, never flew first class and lived year-round in the Bahamas.[18]

Templeton became known for his "avoiding the herd" and "buy when there's blood in the streets" philosophy.[19] He also was known for taking profits when values and expectations were high.[20]

Templeton was a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charter-holder. He received AIMR's first award for professional excellence in 1991.[21] In 2005, he wrote a brief memorandum predicting that within five years there would be financial chaos in the world. It was eventually made public in 2010.

Templeton married Judith Folk in 1937, and the couple had three children: John, Anne, and Christopher. Judith Templeton died in February 1951 in a motorbike accident. He remarried, to Irene Reynolds Butler in 1958; she died in 1993. A Christian, he was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. He served as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Englewood (Englewood, New Jersey). He was a trustee on the board of Princeton Theological Seminary, the largest Presbyterian seminary, for 42 years and served as its chair for 12 years.

On 8 July 2008, Templeton died at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas, of pneumonia at 12:20 local time. He was 95,[1] and was survived by two sons, one of whom, John Templeton Jr., has since died, in 2015, of brain cancer.

Templeton was one of the most generous philanthropists in history, giving away over $1 billion to charitable causes.[22][23] Templeton renounced his US citizenship in 1964, allowing him to avoid paying $100 million that he would have paid in US income taxes when he sold his international investment fund, instead channeling the funds toward his philanthropy efforts.[24][25][26] He held dual naturalised Bahamian and British citizenship and lived in the Bahamas.

In 2007, Templeton was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People (Time 100) under the category of "Power Givers". Templeton was given this honour for his "pursuit of spiritual understanding, often through scientific research" through his establishment of the John Templeton Foundation.[27]

As a philanthropist, Templeton established

• the Templeton Prize for Progress Toward Research or Discoveries about Spiritual Realities in 1972;
• the Templeton Library in Sewanee, Tennessee;
• the Templeton College of the University of Oxford (by endowing the Oxford Centre for Management Studies to become a full college of the university having as a focus business and management studies).

Templeton College is now closely associated with Oxford's Saïd Business School. In 2007, Templeton College transferred its executive education program to Saïd Business School. In 2008, Templeton College merged with Green College to form Green Templeton College.[28] This is one of the exceptional mergers in recent history of the University of Oxford.

He was created a Knight Bachelor in 1987 for his philanthropic efforts. Templeton was inducted into the Junior Achievement US Business Hall of Fame in 1996, and in 2003 awarded the William E. Simon Prize for Philanthropic Leadership.[29]

• Riches for the Mind and Spirit: John Marks Templeton's Treasury of Words to Help, Inspire, and Live By, 2006. ISBN 1-59947-101-9
• Golden Nuggets from Sir John Templeton, 1997. ISBN 1-890151-04-1
• Discovering the Laws of Life, 1994. ISBN 0-8264-0861-3
• Is God the Only Reality? Science Points to a Deeper Meaning of the Universe, 1994. ISBN 0-8264-0650-5
• Templeton Plan: 21 Steps to Personal Success and Real Happiness, 1992. ISBN 0-06-104178-5
• The humble approach: Scientists discover God, 1981. ISBN 0-8164-0481-X
• Worldwide Laws of Life: 200 Eternal Spiritual Principles, 1998. ISBN 1-890151-15-7.
• Investing the Templeton Way: The Market Beating Strategies of Value Investings Legendary Bargain Hunter, 2007. ISBN 978-0-07-154563-1
• Buying at the Point of Maximum Pessimism: Six Value Investing Trends from China to Oil to Agriculture, 2010. ISBN 978-0-13-703849-7

• John Templeton Foundation
• Templeton Prize
• John Templeton Jr.
• Franklin Templeton Investments
• Benjamin Graham, another famous value investor and teacher of Templeton
• Warren Buffett, another famous value investor and student of Benjamin Graham

Wikiquote has quotations related to: John Templeton

• John Templeton Foundation
• Profile of the John Templeton Foundation in The Nation
• Obituary of Sir John Templeton in Philanthropy magazine
• God's Venture Capitalist Slate article by David Plotz
• 16 Rules for Investment Success by Sir John Templeton
• The John Templeton Award for Theological Promise A research award funded by the John Templeton Foundation
• Contrarian, a documentary film about John Templeton