Before becoming the founder of Bridgewater Associates, not to mention a celebrated author, Ray Dalio faced a moment of financial distress that reshaped his entire approach to investing and life. After being fired early in his career, Dalio founded what would become the world’s largest hedge fund as an independent operation, run out of his two-bedroom apartment in New York City. Within a few years, he found himself “so broke” he had to borrow $4,000 from his father just to cover family bills.
“This was painful,” Dalio told a fellow billionaire, Carlyle Group cofounder David Rubenstein, in a conversation at New York’s 92nd Street Y in July. But it also had a deep impact, he continued.
