Monthly Newsletter - October 2025
Sitting in London as I write this, surrounded by the wealth of a now vanished empire, one feels the weight of history. In writing my newsletter essay for this month, I felt compelled to take a longer view than usual. Actually, much longer.
There are very few people, alive or dead, who have been so thoroughly researched and investigated as William Shakespeare. Since his death 409 years ago in 1616 literally thousands of books and articles have been written about him, so it is not surprising that we know a lot about how Shakespeare viewed investing.
There were no stock markets as we know them in Shakespeare’s day, but he very wisely profited from his plays by buying a share of the earnings of the theatre company that produced his works, The King’s Men. He made much more money from his 12% share of the profits from the shows than he did from selling copies of the plays; in the early 17th century most people couldn’t read. His dividends provided him with a stable source of income apart from what he was paid for his scripts. This was very much in line with his belief in diversification. In the Merchant of Venice, a financier of shipping ventures states:
“My ventures are not in one bottom trusted, nor to one place; Nor is my whole estate upon the fortune of this present year: Therefore my merchandise makes me not sad.”
Shakespeare believed in buying productive assets, chiefly real estate. At his death he owned the 2nd largest house in his hometown of Stratford-on-Avon, a profitable alehouse, and hundreds of acres of farmlands, rented out to tenant farmers. He lived very comfortably on his rents, interest and dividends. Interestingly, land records show that he invested every three years, practicing an early form of cost averaging.
One thing he did not own was gold. In an early play he expressed his views on gold as an investment category:
“foul-cankering rust the hidden treasure frets, but gold that’s put to use more gold begets.”
Translated into 21st century English: Buried treasure does nothing but rot, but invested funds lead to growth.
The current gold frenzy is but one of many that the metal has seen over the centuries. One cannot, of course, know how Shakespeare would have regarded his failure to own this asset class. FOMO (fear of missing out) was just as powerful a motivator for poor decision making in his day as it is now. However, I have taken the liberty of imagining the Bard of Avon writing a note to his portfolio manager in the midst of a speculative gold boom. In it, using classical sonnet form he compares his holdings to a bar of gold (rather than a summer’s day).
Shakespeare Contemplates His Portfolio
Shall I compare thee to a bar of gold?
Thou hast less weight, but art less volatile.
Thy dividends sustain me, who is old,
Allowing me to live my life in style.
Like lilies of the field, gold does not toil,
But simply sits in splendid hue arrayed.
While enterprise of man, through sweat and moil,
Produces that by which true wealth is made.
The madding crowd doth rush to speculate,
Ignoring value lying in plain sight.
And willingly to slaughter run, ‘til fate
Sends lightning bolts to set the prices right.
For gold, despite its glitter and its luster,
Is oft sustained by only lies and bluster.
History shows us that over 400 years ago Shakespeare understood many of the same rules of investing we still use today. Some things really do stand the test of time.
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