Ray Dalio

Dalio was born in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of New York City's Queens borough.[9] He is the son of a jazz musician, Marino Dallolio (1911–2002), who "played the clarinet and saxophone at Manhattan jazz clubs such as the Copacabana," and Ann, a homemaker.[9][10][11] He is of Italian descent.

Dalio began investing at age 12 when he bought shares of Northeast Airlines for $300 and tripled his investment after the airline merged with another company.[12] He received a bachelor's degree in finance from Long Island University (C.W. Post College) and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School in 1973.[12][13]

After completing his education, Dalio worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange and traded commodity futures.[12] He later worked as the Director of Commodities at Dominick & Dominick LLC.[14] In 1974 he became a futures trader and broker at Shearson Hayden Stone.[12] In 1975 he founded investment management firm Bridgewater Associates out of his apartment.[15] The firm opened an office in Westport, Connecticut in 1981 and became the world's largest hedge fund in 2005.[15] As of October 2017 it had $160 billion in assets under management.[16] In 2007, Bridgewater suggested there might be a global financial crisis,[17] and in 2008 Dalio published "How the Economic Machine Works: A Template for Understanding What is Happening Now", an essay assessing the potential of various economies by various criteria.[18]

In 2011, he self-published a 123-page volume, "Principles", that outlines his philosophy of investment and corporate management based on a lifetime of observation, analysis and practical application through his hedge fund.[19][20]

In 2012, Dalio appeared on the annual Time 100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world.[21] In 2011 and 2012 Bloomberg Markets listed him as one of the 50 Most Influential people. Institutional Investor's Alpha ranked him No. 2 on their 2012 Rich List.[22][23]

In 2017, Simon & Schuster published Principles: Life & Work. The book was a New York Times #1 best-seller and Amazon's #1 business book of 2017.[24] Dalio discusses his background as a backdrop for his takeaways about life and work. He has announced that he will write a second volume, Principles: Economics & Investing.[25]

Dalio has said that he could continue improving his returns by solidifying recurring lessons into "principles."[15]

Dalio was co-CEO of Bridgewater for 10 months before announcing in March 2017 that he would step down as part of a company-wide shake-up by April 15.[26] The company had been in a seven-year management and equity transition to find a replacement.[27] Jon Rubinstein, co-CEO of the fund, was announced to step down with Dalio, but would retain an advisory role.[26] On April 7, 2019, Dalio said on 60 Minutes that income inequality in the United States was a national emergency requiring reform.[28][29]

In July 2019, Dalio called for a reform of capitalism and described wealth inequality as a national emergency.[30] In November 2019, Dalio posted a blog entry stating that excess capital, unfunded social liabilities, and government deficits have created a recipe for disaster, in what he called a "paradigm shift".[31]

Dalio resides with his wife Barbara, a descendant of sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney (married in 1976/77)[9] in Greenwich, Connecticut, and is known to practice the Transcendental Meditation technique.[12][32][33] They have four sons, Devon, Paul, Matthew, and Mark.[10] Devon, their eldest son (born March 26, 1978), was named after North Devon cattle because Ray was deeply involved in cattle futures at the time.[34] Second son Paul Dalio is a film director.[35] Matthew Ace "Matt" Dalio, their third son, is founder and chairman of the China Care Foundation, a non-profit that seeks to help Chinese orphans, and co-founder and CEO of Endless Mobile, Inc., a computer operating system company.[36][37] Their youngest son, Mark Dalio, is a wildlife filmmaker. Ray has suffered from Barrett's esophagus, a form of Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), a pre-malignant condition that if not treated properly can lead to cancer.[38]

In April 2011, Dalio and his wife joined Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's Giving Pledge, vowing to donate more than half his fortune to charitable causes within his lifetime.[43] Through the Dalio Foundation, he has directed millions in donations to the David Lynch Foundation, which promotes and sponsors research on Transcendental Meditation.[44] The Dalio Foundation has also contributed to the National Philanthropic Trust, to polio eradication projects, and to NewYork–Presbyterian Hospital.[45] The foundation has also supported the Fund for Teachers, an initiative that supports professional learning fellowships for teachers.[46]

The Dalio Foundation was part of a group of foundations supporting the 2018 launch of TED's Audacious Project, an initiative to fund social entrepreneurs working to solve global issues.[47] In March 2019, Dalio was named one of the highest-earning hedge fund managers and traders by Forbes.[48]

In 2018, OceanX, an initiative of the Dalio family, and Bloomberg Philanthropies[49] committed $185 million over a period of four years to protect the oceans.[50]

• How the Economic Machine Works; A Template for Understanding What is Happening Now (2007)[51]
• Principles (2017)[52]
• A Template For Understanding Big Debt Crises (2018)[53]
• Why and How Capitalism Needs to be Reformed (2019)[54]

Principles was listed among the 13 Best Business Books of 2017 by CNBC.[55]

• Criticism of capitalism
• Wealth inequality in the United States

• Profile at Forbes
• Ray Dalio on Charlie Rose
• "Most Influential 50 People in Global Finance" Bloomberg Markets, September 7, 2011
• "Mastering the Machine" New Yorker, July 25, 2011
• "In Punishing Year for Hedge Funds, Biggest One Thrived" The New York Times, January 26, 2012
• "Ray-man running hedge fund in his own image" Financial Times, March 2, 2012
• "Ray Dalio Biography and Interview". www.achievement.org. American Academy of Achievement. October 2012.
• "Ray Dalio Quotations"
• Ray Dalio: How The Economic Machine Works (video) on YouTube
• Ray Dalio explains his principles on YouTube published on Apr 7, 2019 60 Minutes Overtime