Bob Beckman
| Bob Beckman | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
Robert C. Beckman August 25, 1934 New York, US |
| Died | December 6, 2007 (aged 73) |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Investment commentator |
| Known for | The Downwave (1983), Into the Upwave (1988) |
Robert C. Beckman (August 25, 1934 – December 6, 2007) was an American investment adviser, commentator, and author, who achieved fame in the United Kingdom in the 1980s through his media appearances and his books The Downwave (1983) and Into the Upwave (1988). As a young man he made, and quickly lost, a fortune on the stock market. The experience permanently disillusioned him with equity investment and he became known for his forecasts of doom for the stock market and British house prices which were largely proved wrong.
Robert Beckman was born in New York on August 25, 1934. His family were poor but he managed to earn a degree in economics.
Beckman had an early career as a banker and stockbroker on Wall Street in the 1950s. He later claimed to have made a million dollars by the age of 26, and to have lost it all by the age of 27. The experience permanently disillusioned him with the stock market and he thereafter adopted a cautious approach to investment that was slow but certain, saying that it took him more than 13 years to make his next million.
In 1963, Beckman moved to the United Kingdom where he began advising on investments and bought the Investors' Bulletin newsletter in 1968 when it had just 12 subscribers. He sold it in 1996.
In the 1970s, Beckman achieved publicity after claiming that his Old English sheepdog, William, was a successful stock market investor. Beckman explained "The dog is called William of Arethyn, which means son of the bear, it makes most of its money in bear markets." Beckman claimed to read out the names of companies and to buy or sell according to signals given by William. On one occasion, according to Beckman, William snatched the chart for Hammerson from his hand and tore it to pieces which Beckman took as a sell signal. He subsequently shorted the stock to his profit. It later transpired that the dog was actually owned by Beckman's former assistant, who with Beckman claimed that the share trading profits that had been made belonged exclusively to William and therefore there could be no tax on them. A commentator in Taxation magazine agreed that as William was neither a "legal entity" or a "person" in law, he probably didn't owe any tax but neither could he own money, and therefore his whole capital of around £100,000 belonged to the British crown.
In the 1980s Beckman rented a three-floor penthouse at the top of a Barbican tower for £25,000 per annum.
Beckman began a regular morning investment segment on LBC radio, which he held for 12 years, and also appeared on TV-am. In 1982, he founded the Beckman International Capital Accumulator Unit Trust, aiming for a steady return from fixed interest bonds and gilts. In 1983, Beckman appeared in the television film Prophet of Doom.
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