As one of the most admired brokers of all the times, Charles Merril has founded the company who commoditised the shares trading. He took advantage of his retail experience and made investing simple and cheap. Doitinvest.com gives you below a hint on how he made it…
Timeline
1885 Born.
1907 Moves to New York to work for Patchogue-Plymouth Mills.
1911 Article ‘Mr Average Investor’ published in
Leslie’s Weekly
1928 Writes to clients advising them that ‘now is a time to get out of debt’.
1940 Pierce & Co merges with Merrill Lynch.
1944 Suffers multiple heart attacks.
1947 Merrill Lynch largest retailer of stocks in United States.
1956 Dies.
As early as 1911 Merrill was contemplating the merits of wider share ownership. He articulated his radical ideas in the article ‘Mr Average Investor’. He also became anexpert on the financing of the relatively new concept of chain stores. It was a chain-store approach that he brought to stockbroking. With his friend Edmund Lynch, he founded Merrill, Lynch & Co in 1914. He then successfully steered the firm through the maelstrom of the 1929 Wall Street Crash. After the second world war, with the expanded firm of Merrill Lynch, EA Pierce, and Cassatt, Merrill fulfilled his vision of bringing share ownership to the masses. By 1947 Merrill Lynch was the largest retailer of stocks in the United States, with $6,200,000 worth of sales and an advertising bill of some $400,000.
Plagued by ill health, Merrill was forced to take a back seat, and died in 1956.
Article published originally on doitinvest.com