The Tilson Kids Are Going To Binghamton

Since shuttering his hedge fund last year, Whitney Tilson has found himself with a great deal of free time on his hands. And he has put it to good use: For example, running a sleep deprivation experiment on himself. Where he’s been perhaps less-than-successful is finding remunerative ways to spend his time, which he needs, because he’s not exactly Ray Dalio or George Soros, having never managed more than $200 million at any time. Unfortunately for his children, the consequent combination of boredom and financial need has led him to a new experiment, involving their futures.

Former hedge fund manager Whitney Tilson is confident enough in his investing abilities that he’s included just five stocks in his children’s college-savings portfolios.

In an email last night, Tilson outlined his strategy for the accounts: 50 percent in Berkshire Hathaway Inc., 25 percent in real estate company Howard Hughes Corp., and 25 percent “evenly split” among Amazon.com Inc., Alphabet Inc. and Facebook Inc. (or three of the five members of FAANG).

Now, this could work out spectacularly, and Tilson’s three daughters could have the ability, should they so choose, to follow their father’s footsteps to Harvard and Harvard Business School, or some similarly bank-breaking path, with a tidy sum left over. Or it could work out like Kase Capital did at the end, only in a concentrated kind of way, and they’ll be choosing which scenic corner of New York State they’d like to spend four long, snowy years while Dad peddles real-estate to pay for used textbooks.

Former Hedge Fund Manager Whitney Tilson Puts His Kids’ College Savings Into Just Five Stocks [Bloomberg]