How RAY DALIO Created His $160 Billion Empire: Bridgewater Associates (2024)

FAQs

How did Ray Dalio create Bridgewater? ›

Many of the clients he worked with at the firm wanted him to keep managing their assets. In response, Dalio founded Bridgewater Associates from a New York City apartment. Bridgewater started as an advisory firm focused on helping clients make informed decisions about interest rates and foreign currencies.

Net Worth Summary

Dalio said in a June 28, 2018 interview on Bloomberg Television that he owned "less than half" of Bridgewater, and was credited with 49% of the firm.

Investment philosophy

According to Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates is a "global macro firm". It uses "quantitative" investment methods to identify new investments while avoiding unrealistic historical models.

In the early 1980s, Dalio went broke after betting against the American economy. “I'd lost so much money I couldn't afford to pay the people who worked with me.

Dalio's investment strategy is based on risk parity, which aims to balance risk across different asset classes, and diversification across multiple asset classes, including stocks, bonds, commodities, and currencies.

A former partner at Bridgewater Associates accused the world's largest hedge fund of favoritism as well as age and sex discrimination, the second such complaint from a senior executive in recent months.

In 1975, at age 26, he founded Bridgewater Associates in his two-bedroom Manhattan apartment. As the firm expanded, he wrote a 100-page essay, “Principles,” to share his management philosophy with his employees. Dalio believes his team must be “radically truthful and transparent” to achieve excellence.

(Bridgewater generally requires clients to have a minimum of $7.5 billion of investable assets.) And they assume that those clients, being “financially sophisticated,” must achieve high returns in the funds they invest in.

He who lives by the crystal ball will eat shattered glass.

Founded in 1975, we are a community of independent thinkers who share a commitment for excellence. By fostering a culture of openness, transparency, and inclusion, we strive to unlock the most complex questions in investment strategy, management, and corporate culture.

What is the average return of Bridgewater Associates? ›

Bridgewater Associates, LP's average return in the last 12 months was 20.80%. What was Bridgewater Associates, LP's average return in the last 3 years? Bridgewater Associates, LP's average return in the last 3 years was 9.40%.

Bridgewater Associates Salary FAQs

The average Bridgewater Associates hourly pay ranges from approximately $20 per hour (estimate) for a Line Cook/Prep Cook to $109 per hour (estimate) for a Portfolio Manager. Bridgewater Associates employees rate the overall compensation and benefits package 4.3/5 stars.

Ray graduated with a BS in Finance from C.W. Post College in 1971 and earned an MBA degree from Harvard Business School in 1973.

Dalio Defends His Decades-Long Investment in China

Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio defended his decades-long investment in China and pledged he won't abandon the world's second-largest economy even with all of the problems there he's identified and the risks of a war with his own country, the US.

Family. Dalio lives with his wife Barbara, a descendant of sculptor Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, in Greenwich, Connecticut. They have four sons. Their oldest son, Devon, died in an automobile accident in 2020 at age 42.

In 1975, at age 26, he founded Bridgewater Associates in his two-bedroom Manhattan apartment. As the firm expanded, he wrote a 100-page essay, “Principles,” to share his management philosophy with his employees. Dalio believes his team must be “radically truthful and transparent” to achieve excellence.

Ray Dalio founded Bridgewater in 1975 from his two-bedroom apartment and grew it over 47 years into the global institution it is today. Over those years, Ray has been Bridgewater's CEO, CIO, and Chairman, shaping the firm's innovative approaches to investing and its unique culture.

Our culture of meaningful work and meaningful relationships, and radical truth and radical transparency makes working at Bridgewater a unique place for personal and professional growth.

The firm does not have any individual clients. It generally requires clients to have a minimum of $7.5 billion of investable assets. Bridgewater has several strategies: Pure Alpha, Pure Alpha Major Markets, All Weather and Optimal Portfolio.