Ray Dalio

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Ray Dalio is an American billionaire and one of the world’s most successful hedge fund managers. He founded Bridgewater Associates in 1975 in his New York City apartment and has served as co-chief investment officer since 1985. Under his leadership, Bridgewater grew into the largest hedge fund in the world, known for its big, diversified bets on global markets.

Dalio studied finance at Long Island University’s C.W. Post Campus and earned an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1973. After college, he worked on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, traded commodities, and held a role at Dominick & Dominick. He also worked at Shearson Hayden Stone, where he advised farmers on hedging risk before leaving and starting Bridgewater.

Bridgewater began as a wealth advisory firm and later published research on market trends. It attracted major clients and grew rapidly, especially after faring well during the 1987 stock market crash. Dalio launched the Pure Alpha fund in 1991 and the All Weather fund in 1996, pioneering a risk-based approach called risk parity. The firm became the world’s largest hedge fund by 2005 and gained fame for predicting the 2008 financial crisis.

Dalio is the author of several books, including Principles: Life & Work (2017), which outlines his ideas on management, investing, and decision-making. He has written more on economics and the changing world order and even created online tools to help people apply his ideas.

Dalio is married to Barbara Dalio, and they live in Greenwich, Connecticut, with their four sons; their eldest, Devon, died in 2020. The Dalio Foundation has donated billions to education, health, ocean protection, and other causes, and the couple has pledged to give away most of their wealth.

In recent years, some reporting raised questions about how Bridgewater makes its investment decisions. Dalio and his lawyers defended the firm, while he has continued to advocate for reforming capitalism and addressing wealth inequality. He has also spoken about the rise of China as a global power.

Dalio has written many other books and created educational projects to share his views on markets, debt, and global economics. He remains a prominent figure in finance and philanthropy.