Albert Einstein, investor

[Eubulides <paraconsistent@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

[And to think the man used his paychecks as bookmarks!]


<http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/article333838.ece>

Einstein's relatively secret fortune
By David Brierley
Published: 18 December 2005

Albert Einstein and his scientific achievements are world-renowned.
Less well-known are his successes as a stock market investor. But it
turns out that, in less than 20 years, he and his adviser turned a few
thousand dollars into more than $250,000.

A share certificate signed by the world's most famous physicist,
discovered in the US, fetched €28,000 last week in Berlin. It reveals
that Einstein's 60 shares in May Department Stores alone doubled in
value in six years.

The image of Einstein as stock-market punter does not sit easily with
that of Einstein the pacifist and idealist. "Money only appeals to
selfishness and always irresistibly tempts its owner to abuse it," he
once said.

Einstein pulled off the feat of being genuinely non-materialistic,
while having more than enough money. On arrival in Princeton in the
1930s, he was asked to name his salary, and arrived at a figure of
$3,000. This was turned down, to his surprise, as too low. His
accountant, Samuel D Leidesdorf, persuaded him to settle for $17,000.

Thereafter Leidesdorf advised Einstein, and the share certificate sold
last week may indeed represent Leidesdorf's, rather than Einstein's,
acumen.