Introducing The Story of Money: They are history’s geniuses. But were they any good at investing?

The Financial Times' new podcast 'The Story of Money' explores whether history's most brilliant minds—like Isaac Newton, Winston Churchill, Charles Darwin, J.M.W. Turner, and John Maynard Keynes—were also successful investors. Hosted by Gillian Tett and Robin Wigglesworth, the episode dissects the financial records of these iconic figures, revealing a surprising pattern: intellectual brilliance doesn't guarantee investment success. Newton, despite mastering calculus and managing the mint, lost 40% of his fortune by re-entering the South Sea Bubble at its peak, famously quipping, 'I can calculate the movement of stars, but not the madness of men.' Churchill, a prolific writer with massive book advances, squandered his wealth through reckless margin trading during a 1920s book tour, becoming a proto-meme trader. In contrast, Keynes delivered extraordinary long-term returns by evolving from a short-term trader to a disciplined, bottom-up investor. Turner, the artist, quietly profited from a fixed-income arbitrage opportunity, while Darwin’s conservative investing yielded an impressive 8.6% annual return. The episode concludes that true investing success requires more than IQ—it demands emotional discipline, risk management, and the ability to adapt. The takeaway: genius doesn’t equal good investing, but consistency, humility, and long-term thinking do.