Of course, it's just a survey and the results really mean very little in any absolute sense, but the results are telling. The memory of the financial world is quite short, as a survey released on Monday by The Carson Group proved.

The world of financial services has changed dramatically in the last two decades and many of the movers and shakers from that period show up on the survey's list, but one is hard pressed to find more than a handful from any decade previous, and they're mostly low on the list.

The New York-based consulting firm, released the results of its Top Money Managers of the 20th Century survey with Warren Buffett of Berkshire Hathaway and Peter Lynch of Fidelity topping out the list with the number one and two spots respectively.

Other managers names rounding out the top five were: John Templeton of Templeton Investment Counsel, Graham & Dodd of Security Analysis and George Soros of Soros Fund Management.

The survey, which consisted of 27 candidates and a write-in vote, was sent to 7,000 money managers mostly on the buy side. Of those 7,000 surveys 302 were returned, Rick Anderson, managing director of The Carson Group said.

"Over this past century, institutional money managers have played a pivotal role in underwriting the explosive growth of the global economy, which has been primarily responsible for funding the tremendous scientific and technological achievements that we enjoy today," said David Geliebter, chairman of The Carson Group.

The results of the survey begs several questions -- what makes a money manager important, the simple numbers of their returns or their overall impact on society? Furthermore all the known candidates surveyed are contemporary money managers.

What happened to the Europeans? The nominations seem to have been a tad US-centric. Or those who made themselves and their clients fortunes in the early part of the century? Some suggestions that came to mind are: John Pierpont Morgan (a.k.a. JP Morgan, born in England) started one of the most powerful banking houses in the world.

Edward Harriman, founder of Brown Brothers Harriman was known for his ruthless business tactics which netted him a financial empire which included banks, insurance companies, and a steamship line and gained him the reputation of one of the worst of the "robber barons."

And when it comes to contemporary figures, where's everyone and their brother's discount broker, Charles Schwab? Schwab worked as a mutual funds manager before establishing his own brokerage house in San Francisco in 1971. He built it into one of the nation's largest and most innovative brokerages by offering deep discounts, online trading and other inducements to small investors.

One of the main surprises of the results, according to Anderson is that value investors came out quite high. "It is also interesting that when asked about top managers, Buffet is not a money manager and neither Graham & Dodd."

"Out of the top ten only three are active managers," Anderson said. "This tells you that people are ranking by history not momentum."

Carson Group's Money Managers of the Century Poll
302 Total Qualified Respondents
NAME	VOTES	RANK	PERCENTAGE
Warren Buffett	261	1st	86.4%
Peter Lynch	244	2nd	80.8%
John Templeton	201	3rd	66.6%
Graham & Dodd	190	4th	62.9%
George Soros	176	5th	58.3%
John Neff	156	6th	51.7%
John Bogle	155	7th	51.3%
Michael Price	116	8th	38.4%
Julian Robertson	96	9th	31.8%
Mark Mobius	85	10th	28.1%
Mario Gabelli	80	11th	26.5%
James Craig	79	13th (Tie)	26.2%
Roy Neuberger	79	13th (Tie)	26.2%
Zalman Bernstein	78	14th	25.8%
George Putnam	76	15th	25.2%
Gary Brinson	63	16th	20.9%
Fayez Sarofim	59	17th	19.5%
Helen Y. Hayes	58	18th	19.2%
Gordon Crawford	49	19th	16.2%
Ralph Wanger	44	20th	14.6%
Beth Terrana	41	21st	13.6%
Michael Steinhardt	38	22nd	12.6%
James Stowers Jr.	37	23rd	12.3%
Seth Glickenhaus	33	24th	10.9%
James Barrow	32	25th	10.6%
Kenneth Heebner	30	26th	9.9%
Foster Friess	26	27th	8.6%

 

 

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