Charles H. Brandes is an American investor, businessman, and philanthropist. He is a disciple of the Benjamin Graham school of

value investing Value investing is an investment paradigm that involves buying securities that appear underpriced by some form of fundamental analysis. The various forms of value investing derive from the investment philosophy first taught by Benjamin Graham an ...

. Brandes Investment Partners, which was started in 1974, currently has over $28.9 billion under management (down from over $111 billion in 2007) and is based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

. In the

Forbes 400 The ''Forbes'' 400 or 400 Richest Americans is a list published by ''Forbes'' magazine of the wealthiest 400 American citizens who own assets in the U.S., ranked by net worth. The 400 was started by Malcolm Forbes in 1982 and the list is pub ...

Richest Americans publication for 2007, Brandes ranked 165. According to ''Forbes'', Brandes was worth over

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

1.billion as of January 2018.Forbes The World's Billionaires: Charles Brandes
April 2014

Early life and education

Brandes grew up in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Western Pennsylvania, the second-most populous city in Pennsylva ...

. In 1965, he graduated from

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a private liberal arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts and Sciences, Freeman College of Management, and the College of Engineering ...

with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in economics. He did graduate studies at

San Diego State University San Diego State University (SDSU) is a public research university in San Diego, California. Founded in 1897 as San Diego Normal School, it is the third-oldest university and southernmost in the 23-member California State University (CSU) system ...

. Brandes is a CFA charterholder. Brandes met Ben Graham in San Diego while he was training to be a stockbroker. He was able to learn firsthand the techniques Graham used to determine undervalued investment securities.

Career

As of 2007, Brandes' U.S. Value Equity fund has beaten the

S&P 500 The Standard and Poor's 500, or simply the S&P 500, is a stock market index tracking the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States. It is one of the most commonly followed equity indices. As of ...

index for the past 5, 10 and 15 years. According to the book ''Investment Leadership'', Brandes' Global equity fund had an average return of 19.21% over the prior 20 years. Brandes Investments strictly follows Graham and Dodd principles as outlined in the books ''

Security Analysis Security analysis is the analysis of tradeable financial instruments called securities. It deals with finding the proper value of individual securities (i.e., stocks and bonds). These are usually classified into debt securities, equities, or som ...

'' and ''

The Intelligent Investor ''The Intelligent Investor'' by Benjamin Graham, first published in 1949, is a widely acclaimed book on value investing. The book provides strategies on how to successfully use value investing in the stock market. Historically, the book has been ...

''. Also recently, the firm made investments in the troubled mortgage and financial sectors, paying bargain prices for investments in

Countrywide Financial Countrywide is one of the UK's largest integrated property services group including residential property surveying, a collaboration of estate agents, and corporate services. It employs circa 8,500 personnel nationwide, working across 650+ estat ...

Washington Mutual Washington Mutual (often abbreviated to WaMu) was the United States' largest savings and loan association until its collapse in 2008. A savings bank holding company is defined in United States Code: Title 12: Banks and Banking; Section 1842: Def ...

Wachovia Wachovia was a diversified financial services company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Before its acquisition by Wells Fargo and Company in 2008, Wachovia was the fourth-largest bank holding company in the United States, based on total asset ...

Corp. and

Bank of America The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank ...

. Brandes is among the largest institutional shareholder of Royal Bank of Scotland and General Motors.

Thomson Financial Thomson Financial was an arm of the Thomson Corporation, an information provider. When the Thomson Corporation merged with Reuters to form Thomson Reuters in April 2008, Thomson Financial was merged with the business of Reuters to form the Market ...

's well-regarded Nelson's World's Best Money Managers rankings consistently lists Brandes Investment Partners among the Top 10 International Equity Fund Managers in the world. Brandes' adherence to Graham and Dodd principles has extended to investment research. He commissioned a study to investigate the "Falling Knives" strategy, the investment axiom that catching falling knives (a stock whose price has been dropping precipitously) is like catching falling money (likely to lead to losses). Researching 1,000 companies between 1986 and 2002 whose price had fallen 60% over a twelve-month period, the study found that within three years of the decline 13% of the companies went bankrupt, but despite this that the portfolio as a whole gained in value by 18% over three years. Announced departure from the firm effect February 26, 2018. Brandes published a well-received book on his investment strategies in 2003 titled ''Value Investing Today'' (McGraw-Hill, ).

Philanthropy

The Tanya and Charles Brandes Foundation funded a scholarship program at

San Diego Jewish Academy San Diego Jewish Academy (SDJA) is an Independent school, independent Jewish day school currently located in the Carmel Valley, San Diego, Carmel Valley community of San Diego, California. The school is composed of three schools: SDJA Early Childho ...

's Maimonides Upper School.

Personal life

Brandes has been married four times:UT San Diego: "County's richest couple battle over a fortune - Rancho Santa Fe couple's divorce opens window on privileged world By Peter Rowe
January 22, 2011 *In 1986, he married his second wife Linda King Formo (born 1948). They divorced in 2004. They did not have children. *in 2006, he married Tanya Johnson; in 2018 the couple announced that they were divorcing citing mutual domestic violence as one of the causes. He lives in San Diego County in Rancho Santa Fe on 30 Acres. *in 2020 he was married in a private ceremony over Zoom, the couple celebrated Sept 9 2021 in a public ceremony with friends and family.

References

External links