Martin Fridson
Encyclopedia
Martin Steven Fridson is an eminent American investment thinker known for his application of rigorous financial theory to the field of high yield bonds
. He is also a philanthropist and prolific author in the subjects of financial reporting, financial history, and political economy
. Fridson has been referred to as the "dean of high yield debt." He currently serves as the Global Credit Strategist for BNP Paribas
Asset Management, and lives in Manhattan
's Upper West Side
with his wife, Elaine Sisman
.
in 1974 and as a result of gaining work experience with The Southwestern Company
selling books door-to-door during college was able to attend Harvard Business School
the following semester, eventually graduating in 1976 with an MBA. He was also awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1982.
and accepted a position as an electric utility bond trader in 1976. After Mitchell Hutchins
was acquired by Paine Webber
in 1977 he left with his trading group to Scandinavian Securities where he worked ultimately as an assistant vice president. In 1980 he went to Paine Webber
's Jackon Curtis arm as a vice president in credit research and fixed income investment strategy. In 1981 he joined Salomon Brothers
as a Vice President focusing primarily in credit research continuing to take a high interest in the high yield debt world. At this time, high yield debt came into the sights of institutional investors as a portfolio enhancing investment and there was a great demand for quality research in the field. According to Fridson, much of the high yield analysis at the time was indistinguishable from advocacy. Realizing the opportunity for this kind of research he left for Morgan Stanley in 1984, where he began to challenge market lore and accepted practices by using statistical and econometric techniques, leading to many active trading strategies. Here he became a principal before leaving for Merill Lynch & Co. in 1989, where he was Director of High Yield Strategy until 2002. His contributions to the field of high yield debt at Merrill came from applying econometric techniques to active portfolio management strategies. While at Merrill he also documented a definitive history of the high yield debt market, which as Fridson says, "was shrouded in myth." In 2002, he left Merrill to found his own firm, FridsonVision LLC. In May 2008, Fridson sold Leverage World and Distressed Debt Investor, the two primary research products of FridsonVision, and became the CEO of Fridson Investment Advisors, an investment management company focusing on corporate credit opportunities.
Fridson has also been a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
since the Clinton Administration.
He has been a guest lecturer at the graduate business schools of Babson College
, Columbia University
, Dartmouth College
, Duke University
, Fordham University
, Georgetown University
, Harvard University
, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
, New York University
, University of Notre Dame
, Rutgers University
and the Wharton School of Business, as well as the Amsterdam Institute of Finance
. He has served as president of the Fixed Income Analysts Society, governor of the Association for Investment Management and Research (now the CFA Institute
), and director of the New York Society of Security Analysts
. Currently, Fridson serves on the board of directors of the Western Sizzlin Corp. and on the editorial boards of Financial Analysts Journal, CFA Digest, and Journal of Investment Management
.
Bond (finance)
In finance, a bond is a debt security, in which the authorized issuer owes the holders a debt and, depending on the terms of the bond, is obliged to pay interest to use and/or to repay the principal at a later date, termed maturity...
. He is also a philanthropist and prolific author in the subjects of financial reporting, financial history, and political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
. Fridson has been referred to as the "dean of high yield debt." He currently serves as the Global Credit Strategist for BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas
BNP Paribas S.A. is a global banking group, headquartered in Paris, with its second global headquarters in London. In October 2010 BNP Paribas was ranked by Bloomberg and Forbes as the largest bank and largest company in the world by assets with over $3.1 trillion. It was formed through the merger...
Asset Management, and lives in Manhattan
Manhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
's Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
with his wife, Elaine Sisman
Elaine Sisman
Elaine Rochelle Sisman is the Anne Parsons Bender Professor of Music at Columbia University, where she has taught since 1982...
.
Education
Fridson earned a B.A. cum laude in History from Harvard UniversityHarvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1974 and as a result of gaining work experience with The Southwestern Company
Southwestern Company
Southwestern Company recruits and trains college students to sell educational reference books, software, and children's books door-to-door. Students participating in the Southwestern program are independent contractors, not employees of the company, purchasing books at wholesale from the company...
selling books door-to-door during college was able to attend Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School
Harvard Business School is the graduate business school of Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts, United States and is widely recognized as one of the top business schools in the world. The school offers the world's largest full-time MBA program, doctoral programs, and many executive...
the following semester, eventually graduating in 1976 with an MBA. He was also awarded the Chartered Financial Analyst designation in 1982.
Career
Fridson interviewed with Mitchell HutchinsMitchell Hutchins
Mitchell, Hutchins & Co. was a leading equity research boutique in the U.S. until its acquisition by Paine Webber in 1977. In 1959, Donald Marron founded D.B. Marron & Company. In 1965, Marron sold his company to Mitchell Hutchins and in 1967 was named president of the company...
and accepted a position as an electric utility bond trader in 1976. After Mitchell Hutchins
Mitchell Hutchins
Mitchell, Hutchins & Co. was a leading equity research boutique in the U.S. until its acquisition by Paine Webber in 1977. In 1959, Donald Marron founded D.B. Marron & Company. In 1965, Marron sold his company to Mitchell Hutchins and in 1967 was named president of the company...
was acquired by Paine Webber
Paine Webber
Paine Webber and Company was an American stock brokerage and asset management firm that was acquired by the Swiss bank UBS AG in 2000. The company was founded in 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts, by William Alfred Paine and Wallace G. Webber. Operating with two employees, they leased premises at 48...
in 1977 he left with his trading group to Scandinavian Securities where he worked ultimately as an assistant vice president. In 1980 he went to Paine Webber
Paine Webber
Paine Webber and Company was an American stock brokerage and asset management firm that was acquired by the Swiss bank UBS AG in 2000. The company was founded in 1880 in Boston, Massachusetts, by William Alfred Paine and Wallace G. Webber. Operating with two employees, they leased premises at 48...
's Jackon Curtis arm as a vice president in credit research and fixed income investment strategy. In 1981 he joined Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers
Salomon Brothers was a bulge bracket, Wall Street investment bank. Founded in 1910 by three brothers along with a clerk named Ben Levy, it remained a partnership until the early 1980s, when it was acquired by the commodity trading firm Phibro Corporation and then became Salomon Inc. Eventually...
as a Vice President focusing primarily in credit research continuing to take a high interest in the high yield debt world. At this time, high yield debt came into the sights of institutional investors as a portfolio enhancing investment and there was a great demand for quality research in the field. According to Fridson, much of the high yield analysis at the time was indistinguishable from advocacy. Realizing the opportunity for this kind of research he left for Morgan Stanley in 1984, where he began to challenge market lore and accepted practices by using statistical and econometric techniques, leading to many active trading strategies. Here he became a principal before leaving for Merill Lynch & Co. in 1989, where he was Director of High Yield Strategy until 2002. His contributions to the field of high yield debt at Merrill came from applying econometric techniques to active portfolio management strategies. While at Merrill he also documented a definitive history of the high yield debt market, which as Fridson says, "was shrouded in myth." In 2002, he left Merrill to found his own firm, FridsonVision LLC. In May 2008, Fridson sold Leverage World and Distressed Debt Investor, the two primary research products of FridsonVision, and became the CEO of Fridson Investment Advisors, an investment management company focusing on corporate credit opportunities.
Fridson has also been a consultant to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is the main governing body of the Federal Reserve System. It is charged with overseeing the 12 District Reserve Banks and with helping implement national monetary policy. Governors are appointed by the President of the United States and confirmed by the Senate...
since the Clinton Administration.
He has been a guest lecturer at the graduate business schools of Babson College
Babson College
Babson College is a private business school located in Wellesley, Massachusetts near Boston.- History :Babson College was founded by Roger Babson on September 3, 1919, as the Babson Institute. It was renamed "Babson College" in 1969...
, Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College
Dartmouth College is a private, Ivy League university in Hanover, New Hampshire, United States. The institution comprises a liberal arts college, Dartmouth Medical School, Thayer School of Engineering, and the Tuck School of Business, as well as 19 graduate programs in the arts and sciences...
, Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
, Fordham University
Fordham University
Fordham University is a private, nonprofit, coeducational research university in the United States, with three campuses in and around New York City. It was founded by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New York in 1841 as St...
, Georgetown University
Georgetown University
Georgetown University is a private, Jesuit, research university whose main campus is in the Georgetown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Founded in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic university in the United States...
, Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
, New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
, University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, Rutgers University
Rutgers University
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
and the Wharton School of Business, as well as the Amsterdam Institute of Finance
Amsterdam Institute of Finance
The Amsterdam Institute of Finance, or AIF, is a financial training and education institute in the Netherlands with a focus on global programs. The AIF, which operates as a non-profit foundation, was founded in 1990 as a joint venture between government officials and the Dutch financial...
. He has served as president of the Fixed Income Analysts Society, governor of the Association for Investment Management and Research (now the CFA Institute
CFA Institute
CFA Institute is headquartered in the United States of America at Charlottesville, Virginia, with offices in Hong Kong and London. Formerly known as the Association for Investment Management and Research , CFA Institute awards the Chartered Financial Analyst designation...
), and director of the New York Society of Security Analysts
New York Society of Security Analysts
The New York Society of Security Analysts was established in 1937 by a group of financial professionals that included Benjamin Graham, a pioneer in the financial industry...
. Currently, Fridson serves on the board of directors of the Western Sizzlin Corp. and on the editorial boards of Financial Analysts Journal, CFA Digest, and Journal of Investment Management
Journal of Investment Management
The Journal of Investment Management is a fully refereed publication that bridges the theory and practice of investment management. The Journal Of Investment Management offers rigorous research with practical significance, drawing from the disciplines of finance, economics and accounting.JOIM's...
.
Awards and recognition
- In 2000, he became the youngest person ever inducted into the Fixed Income Analysts Society Hall of Fame.
- In 2002, the Financial Management Association International named Fridson the Financial Executive of the Year.
- For nine consecutive years through 2002, participants in the Institutional InvestorInstitutional investorInstitutional investors are organizations which pool large sums of money and invest those sums in securities, real property and other investment assets...
All-America research survey ranked Fridson number-one in his category. The magazine's editors dubbed him "the dean of the high yield bond market."
Critique
- "Perhaps the most well-known figure in the high yield world," according to Investment Dealers' Digest.
- "One of Wall Street's most thoughtful and perceptive analysts," according to The New York TimesThe New York TimesThe New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. - "No one brings more insight or a better reputation for integrity to the junk-bond market than Marty Fridson," according to Barron's.
- "A hybrid of Stephen HawkingStephen HawkingStephen William Hawking, CH, CBE, FRS, FRSA is an English theoretical physicist and cosmologist, whose scientific books and public appearances have made him an academic celebrity...
and Studs TerkelStuds TerkelLouis "Studs" Terkel was an American author, historian, actor, and broadcaster. He received the Pulitzer Prize for General Non-Fiction in 1985 for The Good War, and is best remembered for his oral histories of common Americans, and for hosting a long-running radio show in Chicago.-Early...
" according to investment manager Michael McAdams. - Pensions & Investments called his satirical writing on financial markets "worthy of Jonathan Swift."
Works
- High Yield Bonds, 1989
- Financial Statement Analysis, 1991
- Investment Illusions, 1996
- It Was a Very Good Year, 2000
- How to be a Billionaire, 2001
- Unwarranted Intrusions, 2006