George Michaelis

George Michaelis ran First Pacific Investors Source Capital closed end fund until he was killed in an accident in the mid 1990s. A graduate of the Harvard Business School and UCLA School of Engineering, Michaelis achieved over 15 years an 18% annual compounded rate of return in his closed end fund prior to his death. This performance made him a subject in John Train's New Money Masters book where he was quoted as saying:

“…he sees as many people failing in the investment world because they are too smart as because they are to stupid. Intellectually active persons are attracted to intellectually elegant conceptions, such as complicated derivative instruments, which are likely to distract them from the more fundamental truths. Which are often simple and obvious.” George Michaelis quoted in The New Money Masters, 1990.

Michaelis developed what is known as the Michaelis Total Return Ratio (Yield + Growth)

He was also quoted in the December 1, 1989 Money Magazine article; WHAT TO BUY -- AND SELL -- IN 1990 as saying: "If I can find an investment that steadily grows at 10% to 15% a year for five or 10 years, that's a lot more desirable than waiting around for a possible chance at a one-shot 60% gain on a takeover," says George Michaelis, manager of Source Capital, a closed-end stock fund

References and links

* http://www.fpafunds.com/news_031202_ucla_speech.asp

* http://www.traders-school.com/inf_success.php

* http://search.ft.com/nonFtArticle?id=041022006601 What funds can learn from Buffett

* http://books.google.com/books?id=hOmE143gjMIC&pg=PA163&lpg=PA163&dq=george+michaelis+source+capital&source=web&ots=3ELe5cSve2&sig=sGiiR7sEQwx_-SG4TCW01IkEr84: excerpt in Trading Like Warren Buffett

* http://boards.fool.com/Message.asp?mid=10615427&sort=username