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Jean-Marie Eveillard Resource Page

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THE MUTUAL FUND MAESTRO

JEAN-MARIE EVEILLARD

he bested the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index by an average of two percentage points a year

THE MAN WHO KEEPS ASSETS IN GOLD
The idea is that when the equity markets go down, the price of gold will go up. Therefore, 7 percent of the Global Fund and Overseas Fund's assets are in gold. That is a hedge against disaster.

 

Senior Vice President of the First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

Senior Advisor of the First Eagle Investment Management, LLC

One of the Wall Street’s Best Investors

A French investor

 

JEAN-MARIE EVEILLARD THE AQUARIUS

Born in Poitiers, France in 1940, a graduate of Ecoles des Hautes Etudes Commerciales that is a well-regarded French graduate school for economic studies. He started his career in 1962 with Societe Generale. He relocated in USA in 1968. He served as financial analyst with the SoGen International Fund. In 1979, he became the portfolio manager of the Fund, later named the First Eagle Global Fund. Subsequently he went on to manage the First Eagle Overseas and First Eagle Gold Funds that were incepted in 1993 and the First Eagle U.S. Value Fund in September 2001. He managed the funds for over 30 years, and now he serves as Senior Adviser and member of the Board of Trustees to First Eagle Funds and as a Senior Vice President of First Eagle Investment Management, LLC. He was named Morningstar's International Manager of the Year in 2001, and in 2003 was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award from Morningstar for building one of the most flourishing lasting records in the investment business.

Jean-Marie Eveillard: Background & bio

Jean-Marie Eveillard was born Jan. 23, 1940, in Poitiers France. He was fond of financing growing up so he decided to study Economics and eventually graduated in Economic from a renowned school of his times “École des Hautes Études Commerciales”, in 1962.

He joined Societe Generale after his graduation and served in this position for the next 6 years of his career and after moved to the United States to further his career. SoGen International Fund hired him as analyst in 1970. This fund was later named as The Eagle Fund in the year 2000.  Because of his hard work, knowledge and skills, he was promoted to the position of Portfolio Manager in 1978.

He continued to manage different branches of The First Eagle Fund including the First Eagle Global, The First Eagle Overseas, The First Eagle Gold and United States Value Fund until 2004; eventually, he became Senior Adviser at The First Eagle Fund. He also earned lots of fame as a member of The Board of trustees at The First Eagle Fund and Senior Vice President of Management, LLC.   Moreover, he was named “One of the Wall Street Best Investors.”

He served as a manger at different branches of The First Eagle Fund aka the First Eagle Global, The First Eagle Overseas, The First Eagle Gold and United States Value Fund. Because of his daring and good work in his investment decisions he earned him a strong reputation in the financial sector and was named “One of the Wall Street’s Best Investors.” In 2003 was was named “Morningstar’s International’s Stock Manager of the Year 2003.” In 2009 he was also nominated for the “Morningstar’s Fund Manager of the decade Award for non-US stocks”

Not only did Eveillard constantly manage to attract record business for his organization, his reputation for has been untarnished; his decisions are firm and appropriate for his investment. He accepts change, and quick in molding according to his circumstance.

Jean-Marie Eveillard: The First Eagle Fund

Eveillard has worked in the investment business industry for 40 years and has spent more than 30 years at First Eagle Fund.

In 2004, Eveillard retired as a Portfolio Manager from the Eagle Fund and then jointed again as a Senior Adviser in March 2007 when The First Eagle Fund needed his services. This simply shows his sincerity to his affiliated company. He believes that it can never be estimated that when bull market will knock down, he further encourages trade in gold instead of currency.

The First Eagle Global one of the largest Fund in the world is doing excellent business as compared to other Funds. He does not go for short cuts and temporary success, he discourages risk taking in investment and keeps his vision broad and beyond the apparent factors and so achieves long term success.

Jean-Marie Eveillard: Investment philosophy

Eveillard defines investment business as “A big tent that accommodates many different people defines investment business. At the one end there is Ben Graham, and at the other side of the tent there is Warren Buffett.”

Graham and Warren Buffett, the legends in investing business, have entirely different style of making investment, on the other Eveillard  have his own style of carrying out investment business and he also possesses some characteristics of both of the greatest investors.

His unique style of doing business means that he follows a strict set of rules. He always plays a safe game. He believes in performing a risk analysis regarding every aspect of investment and to becomeg familiar with each risk factor very clearly. In addition, when there is inflation risk identified while carrying out any investment then do not put money on that investment instead invest in the form of gold.

Eveillard has strong faith in God regarding any investment related future.

Eveillard said that like Warren Buffet, anyone can be an outstanding investor. He furthermore states that to become outstanding in the business, one has to go through series of tough processes. He considers his two years of retirement time as the dormant period of his life.

Eveillard said that since his comeback two years ago, he has noticed that investment companies owned by professionals are have been progressing very fast. His business philosophy is very helpful in furthering the objectives of The Eagle Funds.

In 2002, his company was the only hedge fund company who was earning profit. Because of his performance record other investors were approaching him for his valuable tips and guidelines for nourishment and betterment of their businesses. While describing his success, he says that looking at the business development in the end and making investment accordingly makes a big difference.

He advises that first thing any investor must have in his mind while investing is to invest in a way that he retains what he already have. Do not invest where there is probability to lose what you already have. Eveillard has suggested that investment in stock in the form of gold instead of money.

Jean-Marie Eveillard: Books

Many books have been published on Jean-Marie Eveillard, which can be found at the link given below:

Books about Jean-Marie Eveillard

Jean-Marie Eveillard: Quotes

“We don’t look at gold as a commodity, but as a form of insurance against what Peter Bernstein calls extreme outcomes. In most circumstances in which worldwide equity markets would go down – and not just for a week or two – the price of gold would go up, providing a partial offset to the hits we’d take in out equity portfolio”.

“In general, there aren’t many countries in which we wouldn’t invest. However, if a country is too economically or politically prevail, we pass. The main country in which we will not invest today is Russia. There’s still too much risk for foreign (or even local) investors that you’ll think you own an asset and then Mr. Putin decides you don’t”.

“The knock on diversified funds is that they’re index-huggers, which given the geographic breadth of where we invest, is not at all the case for us. I know the argument that you should only own your best 30 or 40 ideas, but I’ve never proven over time that I actually know in advance what those are”.

“Our cash balance is purely a residual of whether or not we’re finding enough to invest in”.

“If one is wrong in judging a company to have a sustainable competitive advantage, the investment results can be disastrous”.

“Top executives from a Japanese property company and casualty insurer we’ve owned for years just in our office last month explaining the extent of the CDO exposure in their investment portfolio, which was upsetting to us. We said, “Didn’t the fact that you were buying a triple-A rated product with a yield much in excess of what you could get from Procter & Gamble sound too good to be true?”. However, that kind of thing happened around the world.

“The success we’ve had over the years has a lot to do with the fact that we don’t try to keep up with the Joneses on a quarterly or even past-year basis. It’s the willingness to take short-term pain that distinguishes us from other investors. We’re looking to reward our long-term investors.”

“Taking the long term approach like Warren Buffett’s approach is the way to go. The only question I have is that whether the fundamental financial landscape changed. And I do not know the answer to that.”

Jean-Marie Eveillard: Articles

Jean-Marie Eveillard: In magazines and journals

Jean-Marie Eveillard: Videos

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