The World's Smartest Investor

When people talk about genius investors, the name Warren Buffett usually gets uttered within a few short seconds.

But what if I told you there was a man out there who is even smarter, more shrewd, and better at taking the right kind of risk than even the legendary Oracle of Omaha?

Before you start Googling Forbes’ richest individuals, though, let me say this: He’s on that list.

He’s not the richest, but amazingly enough, he’s also not a financial professional — not in the traditional sense of the term, anyway.

This man’s education and training couldn’t have been more removed from finance.

Unlike the vast majority of billionaires, this man started off as a scientist, not a money manager or venture capitalist.

He never ran in the Wall Street circles in his younger days, and he certainly didn’t make his fortune through savvy but unproductive means like shorting stocks or buying and selling precious metals.

This man started off as a medical doctor, stuck to what he knew, became one of the wealthiest men alive, and left in his wake a trail of successful, innovative companies that still operate and thrive today.

Surprising Origins

Let me introduce you to Dr. Phillip Allen Frost.

Born in 1935, he was too young to fight in World War II, although both of his older brothers did serve.

Like most future industrialists, Phillip Frost didn’t find his calling right away in school. Instead, he studied French Literature at the University of Pennsylvania before finally settling on the Albert Einstein College of Medicine for his medical degree.

Phillip Frost, now Dr. Frost, served as Lieutenant Commander of the U.S. Public Health Service before becoming Chairman of the Dermatology Department at the famed Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami in 1972 — all by the tender age of 37.

However, something even more telling happened to Dr. Frost that same year… something that put him on the road to financial greatness.

In 1972, he and a partner purchased Key Pharmaceuticals, Inc. It was his first major investment, and one he held for a relatively long time — 14 years.

By the time he sold out in an acquisition to pharma giant Schering-Plough, his share was worth more than $100 million — a sum that even the wealthiest doctors in the world have cracked maybe half a dozen times in history.

That acquisition set off a domino effect that catapulted Dr. Frost from a mere multimillionaire into a business world great.

In 1987, he became the CEO of IVAX Corporation, which he then proceeded to sell to Israeli-based company Teva Pharmaceuticals for $7.4 billion, becoming a vice chairman of the acquiring company in the process.

He then went on to found several other companies, all in the biotech sector, serving on boards as well as piling heaps of his own capital into them.

The result, when all was said and done, was a $5 billion net worth from a guy who was never formally trained in business, never spent much time in the financial community, and never had much interest in any industry outside of his own specialty.

Not Like Any of the Others

But does this make him the smartest investor ever?

Well, when you consider the competition, yes.

Because the one thing the most successful investors have in common is that they’re willing to invest in anything to make money.

Warren Buffett’s holdings range from health insurance companies to Coca Cola to airlines, as well as a laundry list of other varied, unconnected businesses and industries, just for the sake of profit.

And that is the point of investing… but not if you’re like Dr. Frost, who had more money than he needed long before he started building, cultivating, and selling.

His goal wasn’t wealth, although he got it in spades. His goal was the development of new biotechnologies and pharmaceuticals.

The end result is a contribution to science while still making a pretty penny.

For anybody who has doubts about the inherent validity or grand benefit of capitalism, this is one shining example that should silence critics.

What Capitalism Should Be But Often Isn’t

Dr. Frost is an investor who builds and innovates, who profits for himself and his shareholders, and who doesn’t leave a path of destruction in his wake.

So comparing him to a career investor like Buffett seems to be missing the mark entirely.

Because as somebody who follows the wisdom and foresight of market makers like Dr. Frost, I want to know beyond any doubt that the individual whose recommendations I follow has just as big a stake in the success of the investment as I do.

And for that reason, he may well be the smartest and perhaps even the most honest major investor we’ve seen in modern history.

Today, Dr. Frost is 80 years old — an age at which most people are well into retirement. But he’s not anywhere near finished.

Fortune favors the bold,

Alex Koyfman

Check us out on YouTube!

His flagship service, Microcap Insider, provides market-beating insights into some of the fastest moving, highest profit-potential companies available for public trading on the U.S. and Canadian exchanges. With more than 5 years of track record to back it up, Microcap Insider is the choice for the growth-minded investor. Alex contributes his thoughts and insights regularly to Wealth Daily. To learn more about Alex, click here.