Speaker
Lloyd Blankfein
Appearances over time
1 episodes
Episodes
1
Podcasts
Quotes & moments
Lloyd Blankfein keeps 98% of his personal portfolio in risky assets, with roughly 75% in single stocks and the remainder in ETFs.
After buying books and a sweater freshman year at college circa 1971, Lloyd Blankfein had only $11 remaining to his name.
Lloyd Blankfein passed on investing in SpaceX when it was valued at $100 billion, which has since grown to a proposed valuation of $1.75 trillion.
During the 2008 financial crisis, Warren Buffett invested $5–10 billion in Goldman Sachs via preferred stock, agreed over a phone call with no written contract.
Lloyd Blankfein has not personally paid a single bill in over 40 years — his wife Laura manages all household finances through a bill-paying service.
New Goldman Sachs partners were advised that if their obituary is 9 paragraphs, no more than 3 should be about Goldman — meaning a well-lived life extends far beyond work.
Lloyd Blankfein grew up in the East New York housing projects in Brooklyn, traveled to Manhattan only 3 times as a child, and never left the country before college.
A $500 financial aid check handed to Lloyd Blankfein on the spot in college left such an impression that he later co-chaired Harvard's financial aid campaign.
When Lloyd Blankfein bought a small beach house early in his Goldman career, the closing cost exceeded the entirety of his and his wife's combined savings.
Lloyd Blankfein became CEO of Goldman Sachs largely because his predecessor was nominated as Treasury Secretary — illustrating the role of luck in career success.
Lloyd Blankfein cited minor league baseball to illustrate how only about 2% of players ever earn enough to make a living as professional athletes.
Lloyd Blankfein concentrates his personal investment portfolio across three sectors: technology, energy (his trading background), and financial services (his professional expertise).
Lloyd Blankfein argues that anxiety — looking around corners for problems — was a genuine asset in running a risk-taking financial firm, even if it burdened his personal life.
Lloyd Blankfein advocates giving wealth away while still alive — 'with your warm hand, not your cold hand' — echoing the premise of the book Die with Zero.
Lloyd Blankfein recommends studying history for investors because, as paraphrased from Mark Twain, 'history doesn't repeat, but it rhymes' — patterns always recur.
Being deep inside the financial system doesn't give you an edge — it just confirms that nobody knows anything. Blankfein's ironic advantage: he knows with certainty that the certainty others feel is an illusion.
Blankfein keeps 98% of his money in equities, with roughly 75% in single stocks concentrated in tech, energy, and financial services. He trades daily from an iPad, treating the market like background music.
At the height of the 2008 financial crisis, Warren Buffett called Blankfein and agreed to put $5 billion into Goldman as preferred stock. His response to a request for due diligence? 'You worry enough for the both of us.' He then left to take his grandkid to Dairy Queen.
Goldman Sachs had the capital to survive 2008. What they lacked was credibility in a panicked market. Buffett's investment was a confidence signal that no amount of self-assertion could have provided.
Blankfein's advice to young traders isn't to read balance sheets — it's to study history. Patterns recur. The current turbulence isn't unprecedented; it rhymes with the late 1960s, the McCarthy era, and every other upheaval humanity has survived.
The gap between a trader who makes it and one who doesn't is tiny — like one stroke in a golf tournament. But in winner-take-all markets, that tiny gap means everything. The best actor gets any part in Hollywood; the second-best waits tables.
Most people think a risk manager's job is to suppress risk. Blankfein argues the opposite: after a period of losses, sometimes the risk manager must promote risk-taking because refusing to act is its own form of failure.
Young investors should be in diversified equity ETFs like VOO or SPY, with a tilt toward tech. Over time, as you age, shift toward capital preservation. The key insight: equities are risky, but when you're young, time is your hedge.
Blankfein grew up in the East New York housing projects with a father who drove trucks and worked the post office after periods of unemployment. Even as one of America's most powerful executives, he still couldn't bring himself to say the word 'rich.'
When Blankfein made partner at Goldman, a senior mentor advised that a well-lived life would produce a 9-paragraph obituary — and Goldman should occupy no more than 3 of them. He admits he failed this test by staying too long.
Blankfein passed on SpaceX when it was valued at $100 billion because he thought it was too expensive. The company is now being discussed at a $1.75 trillion valuation — a 17.5x miss. He also passed on early cellular investments because he didn't see the point of portable phones.
Young Blankfein read The Power Broker and fixated on Moses's flaws. After 40 years of trying to get things done and build institutions, he reread it and Moses's achievements shot up in his estimation. The flaws hadn't changed. He had.
Blankfein inherited anxiety from his father, passed it to his kids, and spent decades looking around corners for problems. Running a firm with a massive balance sheet full of price risk, that anxiety was exactly the right wiring.
Blankfein became Goldman CEO because his predecessor was tapped as Treasury Secretary. Had that not happened, he might have been too old by the time the seat opened. Luck, he says, matters as much as skill.
As a nearly broke freshman, Blankfein filled out a one-page form at the financial aid office. A clerk handed him a $500 check on the spot — no shame, no interrogation. He later co-chaired Harvard's financial aid campaign specifically because of how that moment felt.
Analysis
What they talk about
- Business 57%
- Society & Culture 36%
- History 7%
