A new book by William Green titled “Richer, Wiser, Happier: How the World’s Greatest Investors Win in Markets and Life,” interviewed Miller. His story is pretty incredible.
Losing A Fortune
In 2008, Bill Miller made a big mistake. In the wake of the spreading financial crisis, Miller placed large leveraged bets on Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, and other stocks that had been particularly hard hit. His theory was that the Federal Reserve would soon backstop those failing institutions. Miller was wrong and within a fairly short period his flagship fund lost 55% of its value. His investors abandoned him in droves and he saw the assets he managed fall from a peak of $77 billion to a humbling $800 million. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Miller was going through a divorce at the time and the settlement further decimated his net worth. His wealth shrunk by around 90% in just a few months.
Re-Making A Fortune
And then there’s Bitcoin. Bill reportedly started buying the cryptocurrency when it was around $200 – $300 per coin. His average cost per coin is around $500. As of this writing, a single Bitcoin is $57,000.
GameStop
One regret Miller has though is in letting his GameStop stake go in 2018. Had he held, at the peak of January’s madness his former GameStop stake would have been worth $800 million. At today’s levels it would have been worth around $200 million. Miller is a lesson in perseverance. If you fail, get back up and try again.
