John B. Neff (September 19, 1931 – June 4, 2019) was an American investor, mutual fund manager, and philanthropist. He was notable for his contrarian and value investing styles as well as for heading

Vanguard The vanguard (sometimes abbreviated to van and also called the advance guard) is the leading part of an advancing military formation. It has a number of functions, including seeking out the enemy and securing ground in advance of the main force. ...

's Windsor Fund. Windsor became the highest returning, and subsequently largest mutual fund in existence during Neff's management, eventually closing to new investors for a period in the 1980s. Neff retired from Vanguard in 1995. During Neff's thirty-one-year tenure at Windsor (1964 to 1995), the fund returned 13.7% annually versus 10.6% for the

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Early life and education

John Neff was born in 1931 in

Wauseon, Ohio Wauseon ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Fulton County, Ohio, approximately 31 mi (51 km) west of Toledo, Ohio, Toledo. The population was 7,568 at the time of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. History Wauseon was platt ...

. He attended the

University of Toledo The University of Toledo (UToledo or UT) is a Public university, public research university in Toledo, Ohio, United States. It is the northernmost campus of the University System of Ohio. The university also operates a Health Science campus, ...

and graduated ''

summa cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sout ...

'' in 1955. He then worked at the National City Bank of Cleveland before attending the School of Business at Western Reserve University, graduating in 1958.

Investment career

In 1964, he joined the

Wellington Management Company Wellington Management Company is a private, independent investment management firm with client assets under management totaling over US$1 trillion based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. The firm serves as an investment advisor A fi ...

, a sub-advisor to the Vanguard group of funds. After three years at the company, he was appointed portfolio manager of the Windsor, Gemini, and Qualified Dividend funds. He retired in 1995.

Investment philosophy

Neff referred to his investing style as a low price-to-earnings (P/E) methodology, though others considered Neff a variation of the standard value investor. He was also considered a tactical contrarian investor who placed emphasis on low-tech security analysis, that is, digging into a company and its management and analyzing the books, in contrast to David Dreman, who is more of a statistical contrarian investor. Neff's strategies generated relatively high turnover with an average holding period of three years. One area in which Neff was similar to value investors such as

Warren Buffett Warren Edward Buffett ( ; born August 30, 1930) is an American investor and philanthropist who currently serves as the chairman and CEO of the conglomerate holding company Berkshire Hathaway. As a result of his investment success, Buffett is ...

was in his emphasis on

return on equity The return on equity (ROE) is a measure of the profitability of a business in relation to its equity; where: : Jason Fernando (2023)"Return on Equity (ROE) Calculation and What It Means" Investopedia Thus, ROE is equal to a fiscal year's net in ...

(ROE), stating that it is the single best measure of management effectiveness. However, differing from many value investors, Neff also focused on predicting the economy and projecting a company's future earnings. Also, Neff liked to choose stocks with high dividend yields, in the 4% to 5% range.

Personal life

He published his

autobiography An autobiography, sometimes informally called an autobio, is a self-written account of one's own life, providing a personal narrative that reflects on the author's experiences, memories, and insights. This genre allows individuals to share thei ...

, ''John Neff On Investing'', in 2001. The

Wharton School The Wharton School ( ) is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. Established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton, a co-founder of Bethlehem Steel, the Wharton ...

of the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

named a professorship (the John B. Neff Professor of Finance) after him. The University of Toledo College of Business named the John B. and Lillian E. Neff Department of Finance in honor of Neff and his wife; the department also houses the John B. and Lillian E. Neff Endowed Chair in Finance. Neff was married for 63 years to the former Lillian Tulak, who died in 2017. He died after an illness on June 4, 2019.

Bibliography

*John Neff on Investing. by John Neff, S. L. Mintz. Published by

John Wiley and Sons John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company was founded in 1807 and produces books, journals, and encyclop ...

, 2001. .

References

External links

John Neff: Profile of a Successful Investor About.com

Investopedia Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neff, John Case Western Reserve University alumni American money managers CFA charterholders 1931 births 2019 deaths American investors 20th-century American businesspeople People from Wauseon, Ohio Writers from Ohio University of Toledo alumni