Brian Rogers On The Lessons Learned For Successful Investing

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In a WEALTHTRACK exclusive,T. Rowe Price’s Brian Rogers shares the investment lessons learned over a three decade career running an award winning mutual fund and a decade managing the firm and its investment strategies. Near the top of the list are why humility is so important to successful investing and why over confidence is an investor’s greatest challenge.

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Brian Rogers On The Lessons Learned

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Newsletter

Over the years I have had the opportunity to interview some of the most successful investors in the business, including Warren Buffett.  They are all quite different, but they definitely share some personality traits. I was reminded of one of them when interviewing this week’s guest and when reading Mr. Buffett’s most recent letter to shareholders.

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One common characteristic is optimism. The 86 year old Buffett has it in spades! If anything, he seems to be getting more upbeat with age. Here’s what he says about the investment environment in America: “Our efforts to materially increase the normalized earnings of Berkshire will be aided – as they have been throughout our managerial tenure – by America’s economic dynamism. One word sums up our country’s achievements: miraculous.  From a standing start 240 years ago – a span of time less than triple my days on earth – Americans have combined human ingenuity, a market system, a tide of talented and ambitious immigrants, and the rule of law to deliver abundance beyond any dreams of our forefathers.”

Buffett goes on to say: “Above all, it’s our market system – an economic traffic cop ably directing capital, brains and labor – that has created America’s abundance…” “Yes, the build-up of wealth will be interrupted for short periods from time to time. It will not, however be stopped. I’ll repeat what I’ve both said in the past and expect to say in future years: babies born in America today are the luckiest crop in history.” You can read Buffett’s full letter to shareholders here.

No one alive, at least that we know of, has matched Buffett’s 50 plus year investment returns, but this week’s WEALTHTRACK guest, Brian Rogers, has racked up an impressive 30 year record with less than market risk, as well as shepherding a highly respected investment firm safely through some turbulent times, including the financial crisis.

Rogers was recently named Non-Executive Chairman of the Board of T.Rowe Price, a firm he joined as a portfolio manager in 1982. He has been the firm’s Chairman of the Board since 2007 and Chief Investment Officer, positions he is transitioning out of.

In 2015, 30 years after launching the award winning T. Rowe Price Equity Income Fund, he handed the reins over to a Co-Portfolio Manager.  During his tenure its 10.7% annualized returns just about matched the S&P 500’s 10.8% performance, but it did so with less volatility than the market, offering more protection during market declines.

Over the past 20 years, and under his leadership, over 80% of the firm’s funds outperformed their benchmarks, net of fees, over multiple rolling five and ten year periods.

Rogers is a regular member of the prestigious Barron’s Annual Investment Roundtable and was recently recruited to join the board overseeing Harvard’s endowment, as he put it “giving back” to the university where he received his undergraduate and business degrees.

 

 Add Humility To The Qualities You Look For In A Money Manager And His Or Her Firm

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Video Archive:

Brian Rogers from the WEALTHTRACK archives:

Active Retirement

Great Investor Brian Rogers joined T. Rowe Price in 1982 in his mid-twenties. 35 years later he is retiring from active management of the firm he led as Chairman and Chief Investment Officer. He explains what is behind his decision and how important the next generation of leadership is.

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