10 Things You Didn’t Know About Mitch Rubin

Mitch Rubin

Mitch Rubin has been the Chief Investment Officer of RiverPark Funds since 2006. Looking at his education, you would wonder how he ended up in investments seeing that he studied political science and economics before getting his law degree. All the same, Mitch practiced law for a while, and his time at Harvard led to life-changing moments for the investor. Let’s tell you more about his personal life and journey to becoming an investment analyst through these few facts.

1. He met his wife while at Harvard Law School.

Some love stories date back to childhood, but for Mitch and his wife Audra, theirs go back to their college days. It is while he was a student at the Harvard Law School that he met the girl who would become his future wife. He fell in love with her, and they must make a good team because the couple started The IDEAL School, the first of its kind in Manhattan, that caters to children with special needs.

2. Why he and his wife started The IDEAL School

They say necessity is the mother of invention; thus, when Mitch and his wife searched for a school that would fulfill the needs of their son, Max, they could not find any. They, therefore, decided to take matters in their own hands. Max has Down’s syndrome, and Mitch, together with his wife and two other families, collaborated to start a school that was diverse enough to affirm the identities of all people. A third of the school’s students have learning problems while the rest are neurotypical.

3. How he came to be interested in investing

After graduating with his law degree from Harvard, Mitch joined the workforce, where most of the clients were big investment firms or multinationals with lots of corporate transactions. As he dug deeper into the firms he was representing, Mitch saw the companies in a whole new light; instead of focusing on them as stocks, he understood them as businesses. He even was passionate about finding out why some succeeded, and others failed. Besides, after moving from the sell-side to the buy-side, he realized that every investor has different goals and time horizons, which in turn results in opportunities.

4. His strategy for gaining a competitive edge

According to his interview with River Park Funds, Mitch believes the best way an investor can remain in business is through a disciplined process and approach. He, therefore, advises people to invest in stocks they can own for years and only buy if they are being sold at a reasonable price. He urges investors to remain focused on this strategy, regardless of how tempting a stock might be.

5. He is a member of the National Down’s Syndrome Society.

Only the wearer of a shoe knows where it pinches, and besides starting a school for children with special needs due to his son’s condition, Mitch also became an active member of the nonprofit organization. He joins other celebrities like John McGinley, who have been at the forefront of ending the stigma surrounding Down’s syndrome. Such dedication to the cause can also be seen in the modeling industry through models such as Madeline Stuart. She also has Down’s syndrome and seeks to fight for inclusivity and diversity in the modeling industry.

6. He played basketball with Barrack Obama.

Of the three things Mitch is proud of during his time at Harvard Law School, one of them was the opportunity to play basketball with the man who would become the future president of the United States. According to Miller Center, Barrack enrolled at Harvard Law School in 1988 and excelled in his studies. The two men also share one other thing; just like Mitch met Audra while at the university, so did Obama.

7. How the idea of Baron Fifth Avenue came to be

When Mitch began working for Baron Funds, he was an analyst who worked with Ron Baron for about five years. He then was promoted to co-manage a small growth cap fund, with Ron. Unfortunately, since the fund was only catering to small and mid-cap funds, the minute such firms became too large, they had to be let go from the Baron Funds. Mitch was troubled that after seeing the small firms grow into such large companies, he no longer could have them in his portfolio. As a result, he decided it was time to start a large growth fund stocked with such companies; hence Baron Fifth Avenue was born in April 2004, and Mitch became its manager.

8. What convinced him to change from being a lawyer to an investment analyst?

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Mitch was ready to make use of the knowledge he had acquired to solve real-world problems. Therefore according to Financial Advisor, he joined a law firm where he did loads of corporate work. Since he started gaining an interest in investing, he was still unsure about changing career paths. It took the intervention of a friend who had moved from being a lawyer to an equity analyst to convince Mitch that he could do the same. Mitch consequently went to work at Smith Barney as a sell-side analyst.

9. He has always loved sports.

Mitch disclosed that he has always been a sports fan and encourages his children to find a sport they can enjoy. Therefore it is his pride to see them competing against each other. What further makes him proud is that with The IDEAL School, his son Max also got to fulfill his potential in all areas sports included. Therefore when Max joined the middle school basketball team, Mitch was thrilled.

10. He aims to double investment within five years.

Entrusting your investments to a portfolio manager can be difficult considering the many scandals we have witnessed. Bernie Madoff promised his clients lucrative returns only for him to lure new investors whose money he used to pay the profits he had promised his old clients. While this should serve as a lesson to investors to be wary of their portfolio managers, Mitch insists that his goal is to double the investments on his portfolio within three to five years.

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