I’ll share with you one of my not so secret gems.
Sir Robert (Bob) Edward Jones is one of the most colourful and noteworthy characters New Zealand has produced in the past 100 years.
He is known for many things: boxing fanaticism, drinking wine, but most often as the largest private commercial property investor in the country.
To some Jones is but an opinionated 80 year old with a Libertarian outlook and piles of money.
To others he is a perceptive and witty soul, one with an endless curiosity that is displayed in all he does.
Most significant in terms of the remote island nation’s history, Jones’ brief stint as founder and head of the New Zealand Party split the vote in the 1984 election – ousting the incumbent National party. Thus he became arguably the most successful politician in living memory, as the new Labour government then implemented many of his sought after free market policy reforms, while he returned to private life.
Jones grew up in Lower Hutt, outside of Wellington, where after leaving school and nearly dying of Addison’s disease (a lifelong condition) he started making his first major money by selling ‘intangibles’ (initially advertising on bookmarks at the local library). Fortune and graft were on his side and after some time raking it in hand over fist, Jones put up his hand to buy a commercial building in which no one else was interested (partly as somewhere to sink his growing wealth).
This move would begin what grew into a property investment business that would make Jones one of the wealthiest men in the country, owning a large number of buildings there and abroad over the ensuing years.
Today Robert Jones Holdings owns a significant portion of the capital’s CBD (particularly the Lambton Quay end of the golden mile), as well as several buildings in Auckland and in Glasgow, Scotland.
All this business success however served as largely a backdrop for Sir Bob’s chief passion – books.
Sir Bob spends most of his days reading. He is also the author of many titles – including 5 comic novels, as well as being a prolific columnist and now regular blogger.
No Punches Pulled
Indeed I contend that it is far more accurate to mention this literary side of him foremost, and all the previous second. Unfortunately most of Sir Bob’s work is no longer in print and difficult to find outside of New Zealand.
A well-taled individual if there ever was one, another thing to note about Sir Bob is that he is a comprehensive traveller, having been all across the globe (take note Flat Earthers). Indeed one of his several nonfiction books is on this very topic.
All considered you don’t go a lifetime of doing, learning, and thinking (with of course roughly half a century’s experience in the highest levels of business) without coming away with an insight or two. For this reason I have taken note of what he has to say for some some now. I would encourage anyone else to do the same, regardless of preconceptions – you’ll come away with some pearls.
But beyond all that I admire his sense of vivacity, and am grateful to his having once graciously arranged an interview to humour an audacious and fresh-faced young man.
As I own about a third of his books I will look at doing an overview of some of them in due course. All of you investment-minded will find my notes on one of them in particular quite interesting.
His investment approach – preamble
