The Smartest Guy in the Room

Hi gang,

I've been covering financial news for nearly eleven years so sure, I have my favorites. But David Swensen, Chief Investment Officer of Yale University is easily right there at the top.  

Folks, his record is STUNNING and he's widely recognized as one of the best investors of our time.  His 10 year return average for the Yale Endowment Fund? 16.3%.

He's invested through boom times and bust, bubbles and implosions, but always with a steady hand and an even steadier mind focused on what really matters. He tunes out the market noise (which probably includes all us financial journalists!) and hires unknown but ultra-smart and creative managers to help him pick winners.  When he took over Yale's fund 23 years ago, it had $1 Billion dollars in it.  He brought it as high as $23 Billion last year.  He's honest in his assessment of what's going on with the financial crisis, and brutally frank about the government's missteps. Please check out the clips of our "First on Fox Business" interview with David below.  He gives some important tips for you the individual investor, as well as for the bigger portfolio managers.

At a time when we're chasing Bernie Madoff who was nothing but a ghost of an investor, I thought it extremely important to hear David's soft-spoken but brilliant voice.

--Liz