aiCIO Magazine Deems Bridgewater Founder Ray Dalio the "Steve Jobs of Investing"

NEW YORK, Dec. 14, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- The latest issue of aiCIO magazine suggests that Ray Dalio is the "Steve Jobs of investing" in light of their common history of innovation, idiosyncratic business ideas and enormous financial success.

"Some may argue that Ray Dalio is sui generis, but we believe Steve Jobs' monumental career is a useful prism through which to view Dalio's achievements," said aiCIO Editor-in-Chief Kip McDaniel. Dalio is the founder and ex-CEO of $125 billion global asset manager Bridgewater Associates, widely regarded as having "set a new industry bar" in regard to asset allocation, economic research and return on capital.

According to aiCIO, Dalio, like Jobs, has put greater stock in his firm's own forward-looking thought processes than in market demand. "Both men presumed to know what the customer wanted before customers were even aware of their needs," McDaniel observed, citing Bridgewater's pioneering quest to separate portfolio returns from market behavior and Jobs' insistence in 1983 that Apple customers learn to use a mouse. These developments resulted not from listening to clients, but from prompting customers to think and act differently.

aiCIO notes that Dalio shares Jobs' intolerance of working with anyone who does not possess a first-rate mind and ability to think independently. Turnover at Bridgewater is close to 25% within the first 18 months, as the firm seeks to cull new employees who fail to add cognitive value and do not leave themselves open for improvement.

Both men also can be described as big picture thinkers who pay enormous attention to details. Jobs' near-fanatical fixation on even the smallest design elements is well-known. Similarly, Dalio is described in aiCIO as having "a steadfast attention to the granularity of macroeconomic data." His firm is notable for the degree to which it mines and assigns a value to minute data points.

McDaniel believes the key question of Jobs' and Dalio's legacies is how successfully their respective firms can adapt without their founders. "Dalio's leitmotif is to have Dalio become an enduring idea," reports McDaniel. "His challenge now is to create a mode of operation that replaces the physical Dalio with the modus operandi of Dalio."

About aiCIO

An online and print provider of news, information and proprietary survey data, aiCIO focuses on the 5,000 largest pools of capital in the world, across pension plans, sovereign wealth funds, endowments, foundations, insurance funds and other leading institutional investors. aiCIOis edited by Kip McDaniel. Please visit http://www.ai-cio.com

About Asset International

Asset International is a privately-held provider of information and technology to global pension funds, asset managers, financial advisers, banking service providers, and other financial institutions in the private and public sector. Its industry-leading brands include Strategic Insight, SIMFUND, Plan For Life, PLANSPONSOR, PLANADVISER, aiCIO, Global Custodian, and The Trade. The company has offices in New York, Boston, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne and Stamford, CT.  Please visit www.assetinternational.com

SOURCE Asset International