A few days ago, I was re-reading The First Tycoon by T. J. Stiles about Cornelius Vanderbilt and I happened upon one of my favorite anecdotes from all of 19th century finance. Rather than try to paraphrase, I will go with the original telling as written by T. J. Stiles. For those of you who have never read this book, it is highly recommended. …Vanderbilt Read More

In 1492, Queen Isabella turned a small speculation into one of the greatest investment decisions of all time. Following early exploratory voyages to the New World, bands of bloodthirsty Spanish marauders arrived, conquered empires, and began exporting gold back to Spain. Seemingly overnight, Spain went from backwater to the wealthiest nation in Europe. Of course, the Spanish tried setting up a colonial administration to Read More