• Herbert Wertheim was noticed as a truant when he was young
• Post-US Navy career as optometrist, company founder and investor
• Wertheim’s strategy is similar to Buffett’s, but privately far less modest
dr According to Forbes, Herbert Wertheim was born in Philadelphia in 1939 to Jewish immigrants who had fled Nazi Germany. Although he had a difficult childhood, which was also marked by poverty, Wertheim has amassed billions of dollars in wealth over the course of his life and is now a renowned investor, philanthropist and businessman.
Success Story of a “Fool”
At school, however, Wertheim was called stupid because of his dyslexia and sometimes had to sit in the corner “with a jester’s cap on his head”, as he told “Forbes”. These experiences, as well as difficulties at home, led to him running away from home several times as a teenager and skipping school. At the age of 17, he ended up in court, where, according to the business magazine, the judge gave him a choice: Wertheim could either join the US Navy or go to a state reformatory. The teenager chose the Navy. “My life changed there,” Wertheim told Forbes. Among other things, he learned there that he was by no means stupid. He and his classmates were constantly tested in the Navy to find out “how smart you are”. According to Wertheim, he was always at the top in these tests, especially in the areas of mechanics and organization. He then studied physics and chemistry in the Navy before working in naval aviation.
After leaving, Herbert Wertheim enrolled in engineering at the University of Florida but never graduated, according to Forbes. Instead, he worked for NASA alongside his studies. In 1963 he finally received a scholarship to attend the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis and, after successfully completing his studies, worked as an optician in his own practice. After work, Wertheim worked on his own inventions and in 1969 developed a tint for plastic lenses that can absorb ultraviolet light. He was the first to discover and manufacture UV light absorbers for eyeglass lenses and also recognized that UV light causes cataracts and retinal damage.
In 1970 Dr. Herbert Wertheim founded his own company, Brain Power, which he still runs today. Brain Power offers tints, dyes and other technologies for glasses as well as diagnostic products for opticians, ophthalmologists and optical laboratories and is, according to its own information, one of the world’s largest manufacturers in this area. According to “Forbes”, the company owns more than 100 patents and copyrights – Wertheim itself holds nine patents according to the “Florida Inventors Hall of Fame” – and according to “Benzinga” generates net profits of around ten million US dollars per year. Wertheim uses the cash flow from his company for his investments.
From the first share to the billionaire investor
The time in the US Navy not only affected Dr. Herbert Wertheim’s professional career, but also initiated his career as an investor. According to Forbes, Wertheim made his first investment at the age of 18 by buying shares in Lear Jet with his pay. He also came into contact with the company, which at that time was still manufacturing products for aviation, and its founder through his work in the Navy.
However, Lear Jet was not his only investment. Thanks to his familiarity with computers and his background as an inventor, Wertheim recognized the potential of Apple and Microsoft early on and invested in today’s tech giants when they went public. According to “Forbes”, his positions at both companies are now each worth a three-digit million amount. The self-made billionaire also owns major stakes in General Electric, Alphabet, BP, Bank of America, IBM, 3M and Intel.
However, one of Wertheim’s greatest successes on the stock exchange is likely to be the investment in the aviation and electronics company HEICO, in which he is still the largest single investor. He bought $5 million of the company’s stock in the 1980s, when it was still a penny stock priced at $0.33 a share, according to Benzinga, and went on to help HEICO become a successful corporation build up. One HEICO share now costs USD 159.48 (as of the closing price on June 6, 2023).
Successful with traditional investment strategy
Overall, the investment style of Dr. Herbert Wertheim to star investor Warren Buffett. Wertheim also relies on a long-term buy-and-hold strategy and prefers – in addition to industrial and technology stocks – reliable dividend payers. However, he selects companies for investment by studying their “intellectual capital” for several hours a week. He always wonders how much intellectual capital a company needs to grow, Wertheim told Forbes. In doing so, he concentrates on a company’s patents and technical tomes and not on financial figures.
“My goal is to buy and almost never sell,” he said, according to the business magazine. The investor sees price setbacks as an opportunity to top up an investment at a better price. “If you like something for $13 a share, you should like it for $12, $11, $10 a share,” Wertheim said. “If a share continues to fall and you believe in it and research it, then buy more. You actually get a better offer,” the successful investor told Forbes with conviction.
Since Wertheim avoids selling his shares as much as possible, he uses the dividends he receives, in addition to the income from his company Brain Power, to finance his lifestyle or to make new investments. “You take what you earn with sweat on your forehead [hat]then you take a percentage of that and invest it in other people’s work,” Wertheim told Forbes, describing his investment approach that made him rich.
Focus on work-life balance and charity
But in addition to all the work, Dr. Herbert Wertheim also makes sure that his private life is not neglected. “My thing is, I wanted to have free time. For me, having time is the most precious thing,” says the investor, who has been married to his wife Nicole for more than 50 years and has two children. Together, the couple owns several properties in the United States, a property in London and also two luxury apartments on the yacht “World Residences at Sea”, where they spend many winters, according to “Forbes”. Perhaps Wertheim is also considered the “happiest billionaire in the world” by “Forbes” because his focus is not just on his work.
However, Wertheim is also known as a philanthropist. He is a member of “The Giving Pledge” and has made significant donations to educational institutions, medical research institutions and non-profit organizations, including through his foundation, which was established in 1977. Of particular note are his donations to Florida International University, the University of Florida, and the University of California, San Diego, where numerous institutions bear his name. “Without the help of our public university education system, I would not have achieved the education and opportunities I had,” Wertheim explained his charitable commitment, according to “Forbes”.
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