The Story of Money They are history’s geniuses. But were they any good at investing?
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Apr 22, 2026 
Toby Nangle, an FT Alphaville reporter who dug through archives, explores how famous minds handled money. He recounts Newton’s South Sea losses, Churchill’s risky trades, Darwin’s steady returns, Turner’s bond arbitrage and Keynes’s shift to long-term investing. Short, surprising stories about brilliance and financial fate.
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Isaac Newton Lost Big To Bubble FOMO
- Isaac Newton cashed out early in the South Sea bubble then reinvested at the peak and lost about 40% of his fortune.
- He famously said he could calculate the movement of stars but not the madness of men, illustrating his FOMO-driven reinvestment mistake.
Winston Churchill Blew His Book Advance Trading
- Winston Churchill squandered a huge book advance by frenzied margin trading during a US book tour and intense nine-day trading sprees.
- He traded the equivalent of millions in today's GDP-adjusted pounds in a few days and returned penniless and still having to write the book.
Darwin's Patient Asset Allocation Beat Crises
- Charles Darwin achieved an annualised real capital growth of about 8.6% over 42 years by switching into gilts and avoiding the 1873 crash.
- His returns combined inheritance timing, railway stock selection and a move into government bonds that preserved capital.
