Barton M. Biggs runs Traxis Partners, a multi-billion dollar
hedge fundA hedge fund is an investment fund open to a limited range of investors that is permitted by regulators to undertake a wider range of investment and trading activities than other investment funds, and that, in general, pays a performance fee to its investment manager...
based in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. He formerly held the title of "chief global strategist" for
Morgan StanleyMorgan Stanley is a global financial services provider headquartered in New York City, New York, United States. It serves a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 33 countries around the world with 600 offices, with...
and was with that firm for 30 years.
Biggs has appeared numerous times on
CNBCCNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBC Universal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
and was a member of the Barron's Roundtable.
His influence could be seen when, in 1996, some traders were surprised that India funds suddenly became popular.
Barton M. Biggs runs Traxis Partners, a multi-billion dollar
hedge fundA hedge fund is an investment fund open to a limited range of investors that is permitted by regulators to undertake a wider range of investment and trading activities than other investment funds, and that, in general, pays a performance fee to its investment manager...
based in
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States, and the center of the New York metropolitan area, which is among the most populous urban areas in the world. A leading global city, New York exerts a powerful influence over worldwide commerce, finance, culture, fashion and entertainment...
. He formerly held the title of "chief global strategist" for
Morgan StanleyMorgan Stanley is a global financial services provider headquartered in New York City, New York, United States. It serves a diversified group of corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. Morgan Stanley also operates in 33 countries around the world with 600 offices, with...
and was with that firm for 30 years.
Biggs has appeared numerous times on
CNBCCNBC is a satellite and cable television business news channel in the U.S., owned and operated by NBC Universal. The network and its international spinoffs cover business headlines and provide live coverage of financial markets. The combined reach of CNBC and its siblings is 390 million viewers...
and was a member of the Barron's Roundtable.
His influence could be seen when, in 1996, some traders were surprised that India funds suddenly became popular. "Barton Biggs is there, having a look around," one trader said. "Do you need to know more?"
Biggs was named by
Institutional Investor magazine to its "All-America Research Team" 10 times, and he was voted the top global strategist and first in global asset allocation from 1996 to 2000 by the magazine's "Investor Global Research Team" poll.
"He's the ultimate big-picture man," according to a piece at the Web site of
Smart MoneySmart Money is a 1931 film starring Edward G. Robinson and James Cagney, the only time Robinson and Cagney made a movie together, despite being the two leading gangster actors at Warner Brothers studios all through the 1930s...
magazine. "As the global investment strategist for Morgan Stanley, Barton Biggs is without question the premier prognosticator on the international scene and a mover of markets from Argentina to Hong Kong. It wouldn't be a stretch to say Biggs wrote the book on emerging-market investing."
Correct Calls
- He called the technology bubble and recession that followed a full year before it burst. (International Herald Tribune, 10/3/1998)
Life
The son of a chief investment officer of
Bank of New YorkThe Bank of New York, abbreviated BoNY or BNY, was a global financial services company that existed until its merger with the Mellon Financial Corporation on July 2, 2007. The bank now continues under the new name of The Bank of New York Mellon.-History:The Bank of New York was founded on June 9,...
, Biggs graduated from
Yale UniversityYale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut, and a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States. Yale has produced many notable alumni, including five...
in 1955 (where he studied with
Robert Penn WarrenRobert Penn Warren was an American poet, novelist, and literary critic and was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. He received the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for the Novel for his novel All the King's Men and the Pulitzer Prize for...
, the poet and novelist), and where he was a member of the
Elihu societyElihu, founded in 1903, is the sixth oldest secret society at Yale University, New Haven, CT. While similar to Skull and Bones, Scroll and Key and Wolf's Head societies in charter and function, Elihu favors privacy over overt secrecy...
. Biggs later taught English at a prep school, played semiprofessional soccer and tried his hand at short-story writing. He joined E.F. Hutton in 1961, with a starting salary of $7,200 a year.
Biggs joined Morgan Stanley as a managing director and general partner in 1973. The firm's first research director, he established Morgan Stanley Investment Management in 1975.
He left Morgan Stanley in part, he said, because he found his job had evolved too much into managing people rather than formulating strategy.
Biggs likes the intellectual challenge of running a fund, said Madhav Dhar, Biggs' partner at Traxis, a
global macroThe term global macro is used to classify the strategy of certain hedge funds—those that take positions in financial derivatives and other securities, on the basis of movements in global financial markets...
fund. "He lives and breathes this stuff," according to Dhar. "He always has, ever since I've known him."
Biggs lives in
Greenwich, ConnecticutGreenwich is a town in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 61,101. It is home to many hedge funds and other financial service companies that have left Manhattan. Greenwich is the southernmost and westernmost municipality in...
.
Author
Biggs is the author of
Hedgehogging, (308 pages; Wiley; 2006; ISBN 0-471-77191-0). The book came from a journal kept by the former creative writing major at Yale and chronicles some of the indignities of being in the hedge fund business as well as some of what Biggs calls "the very brilliant and often eccentric and obsessive people in this business."
In the book, he writes about some of the quirks of hedge fund culture: Golf, for instance, is very popular. Perhaps that's because the game, like investing, is minutely measurable, to the last stroke. "Or maybe it's because hedge-fund guys are so competitive and have such massive egos," he writes.
Biggs is also author of the 2008 book
Wealth, War and Wisdom (358 pages; Wiley; January 2008; ISBN 978-0-470-22307-9). In this book, Biggs has a gloomy outlook for the economic future, and suggests that investors take survivalist measures such as looking into "polar cities" as safe refuges for future survivors of global warming. In the book, Biggs recommends that his readers should “assume the possibility of a breakdown of the civilized infrastructure.” He goes so far as to recommend planning adaptation strategies now and setting up
survival retreatsA retreat is a commonly used term for a place of refuge for those in the Survivalist subculture or movement. Retreats are also sometimes called Bug-Out Locations ...
: “Your safe haven must be self-sufficient and capable of growing some kind of food,” Mr. Biggs writes. “It should be well-stocked with seed, fertilizer, canned food, wine, medicine, clothes, etc. Think Swiss Family Robinson. Even in America and Europe there could be moments of riot and rebellion when law and order temporarily completely breaks down.”