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John Marks Templeton was an investor and mutual fund pioneer. He was born in the town of Winchester, Tennessee, and attended Yale University and was selected for membership in the Elihu society. He financed a portion of his tuition by playing poker, a game at which he excelled. He graduated in 1934 near the top of his class. He attended Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar and earned an M.A. in law.....
Templeton married Judith Folk in 1937, and the couple had three children: John Jr., Anne, and Christopher. Judith died in February 1951 in a motorbike accident. He remarried, to Irene Reynolds Butler in 1958; she died in 1993....
He was a lifelong member of the Presbyterian Church. He served as an elder of the First Presbyterian Church of Englewood (NJ). He was a trustee on the board of Princeton Theological Seminary, the largest Presbyterian seminary, for 42 years and served as its chair for 12 years.....
Templeton became a billionaire by pioneering the use of globally diversified mutual funds. His Templeton Growth, Ltd. (investment fund), established in 1954, was among the first who invested in Japan in the middle of the 1960s. He is noted for buying 100 shares of each company for less than $1 ($17 today) a share in 1939 and making many times the money back in a 4 year period.....
In 2006 he was listed in a 7-way tie for 129th place on the Sunday Times's "Rich List". He rejected technical analysis for stock trading, preferring instead to use fundamental analysis. Money magazine in 1999 called him "arguably the greatest global stock picker of the century”.
Templeton renounced his U.S. citizenship in 1964, thus avoiding U.S. over $100 million in income taxes when he sold his international investment fund. He had dual naturalized Bahamian and British citizenship and lived in the Bahamas.....
His philanthropic activities had been estimated at over 1 billion US dollars in total.... In 2007, Templeton was named one of Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People under the category of "Power Givers." Templeton was given this honor for his "pursuit of spiritual understanding, often through scientific research" through his establishment of the John Templeton Foundation....
Templeton became known for his "avoiding the herd" and "buy when there's blood in the streets" philosophy. He also was known for taking profits when values and expectations were high. Templeton attributed much of his success to his ability to maintain an elevated mood, avoid anxiety and stay disciplined. Uninterested in consumerism, he drove his own car, never flew first class and lived year-round in the Bahamas....
In 2005, he wrote a brief memorandum predicting that within five years there would be financial chaos in the world. It was eventually made public in 2010.....
As a member of the Presbyterian Church, Templeton was dedicated to his faith. However, Templeton remained open to the benefits and values of other faiths. Commenting on his commitment to what he called spiritual progress, “But why shouldn't I try to learn more? Why shouldn't I go to Hindu services? Why shouldn't I go to Muslim services? If you are not egotistical, you will welcome the opportunity to learn more." Similarly, one of the major goals of the Templeton Foundation is to proliferate the monetary support of spiritual discoveries. The Templeton Foundation encourages research into "big questions" by awarding philanthropic aid to institutions and people who pursue the answers to such questions through "explorations into the laws of nature and the universe, to questions on the nature of love, gratitude, forgiveness, and creativity." Templeton asserts that the purpose of the Templeton Foundation is as follows.....We are trying to persuade people that no human has yet grasped 1% of what can be known about spiritual realities. So we are encouraging people to start using the same methods of science that have been so productive in other areas, in order to discover spiritual realities.
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