The Investor Who Made $100 Million During The Great Depression (2024)

FAQs

The Investor Who Made $100 Million During The Great Depression? ›

He did just that, selling stocks and even selling short in time to profit from the downturn. Other big investors started to wonder if the rally had run out of steam by mid-summer 1929, including Jesse Livermore, who pocketed over $100 million in the coming collapse.

Business titans such as William Boeing and Walter Chrysler actually grew their fortunes during the Great Depression.

The best performing investments during the Depression were government bonds (many corporations stopped paying interest on their bonds) and annuities.

It is a little known fact that more millionaires were made during The Great Depression than in any other era in U.S. history.

President Franklin D. Roosevelt's "New Deal" aimed at promoting economic recovery and putting Americans back to work through Federal activism. New Federal agencies attempted to control agricultural production, stabilize wages and prices, and create a vast public works program for the unemployed.

By the summer of 1932, the Great Depression had begun to show signs of improvement, but many people in the United States still blamed President Hoover.

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

Roosevelt's main goal was to end the Great Depression. His New Deal programs and policies focused on immediate relief, long-term recovery, and reform in order to revive the economy.

The problems of the Great Depression affected virtually every group of Americans. No group was harder hit than African Americans, however. By 1932, approximately half of African Americans were out of work.

What are the best assets during a depression? ›

Domestic Bonds, Treasury Bills, & Notes

Mutual funds and stocks are considered to be a big gamble during depressions. While Treasury bonds, bills, and notes are more secure investments. These items are issued by the U.S. government. They give the purchaser a fixed rate interest once they mature.

The Great Depression was partly caused by the great inequality between the rich who accounted for a third of all wealth and the poor who had no savings at all. As the economy worsened many lost their fortunes, and some members of high society were forced to curb their extravagant lifestyles.

Demand for alcohol was up and supply was down! I'm sure investors that had a lot of money were able to buy real estate on the cheap. The car companies continued to boom and grow. Mass car production was new in the 1920s, and the interesting thing is that sales continued without a hitch throughout the Great Depression.

Despite all the President's efforts and the courage of the American people, the Depression hung on until 1941, when America's involvement in the Second World War resulted in the drafting of young men into military service, and the creation of millions of jobs in defense and war industries.

The country's most vulnerable populations, such as children, the elderly, and those subject to discrimination, like African Americans, were the hardest hit. Most white Americans felt entitled to what few jobs were available, leaving African Americans unable to find work, even in the jobs once considered their domain.