Bill Bonner is a successful businessman and well-known, respected, and New York Times best-selling finance and economics author. He is a thought leader and pioneer in the investment research world, the founder of the publishing conglomerate The Agora, and the co-founder of Bonner & Partners publishing.
As the self-described most anti-social ‘rich guy’ in America, Bonner keeps a low profile for such a pioneering and successful individual. Present day, The Agora serves as the parent company for over thirty subsidiaries that generate roughly $500 million in revenue and have approximately one million readers worldwide. Thanks to his success with The Agora and alleged investments in five continents, Bonner is believed to have a net worth of roughly $950 million.
Learn from this brilliant investor before he retires. Bill Bonner recently issued his final prediction.
Bill Bonner was born in Mexico in 1948 and received his bachelor’s degree at the University of New Mexico. He then graduated from Georgetown Law School, where he was allegedly classmates with Fed Chief Jay Powell.
Little is known of his professional life before founding The Agora. What we do know, however, is he worked with Jim Davidson at the National Taxpayers Union after graduating. The National Taxpayers Union is a fiscally conservative taxpayer advocacy organization and taxpayers union and the oldest taxpayer advocacy organization in the U.S.
Bill Bonner was always a free thinker throughout his time at university, grad school, and The National Taxpayers Union. Specifically, he was keen to bring more exposure to ideas and opportunities overlooked by the mainstream media. So he took it upon himself to launch The Agora in 1978 in Baltimore.
The Agora didn’t become a global publishing conglomerate overnight. It started with baby steps and a few newsletters. The Agora’s first newsletter was called International Living, a publication dedicated to working, investing, and retiring overseas. It found instant success and was a springboard for bigger things to come.
The Agora, throughout the 1980s, continued to expand with more and more publishing subsidiaries and newsletters. Most notably, Agora Financial was birthed from three newsletters- Strategic Investment (1984), Plague of the Black Debt (1992), and The Daily Reckoning (1999). The Daily Reckoning was one of the first free daily financial e-letters and still exists today.
Agora Financial became a standalone LLC in 2004 and made several accurate predictions. It first predicted the fall of the Soviet Union in the late-80s. It also predicted the dotcom bust and how the housing bubble’s and credit bubble’s excesses would lead to the collapse of Lehman Bros. and the financial crisis.
Years later, Agora Financial publications would successfully predict the rise of cryptocurrency and the election of President Trump.
However, that just scratches the surface of how big Bill Bonner’s financial footprint and publishing empire exploded throughout the 90s and 2000s.
Bonner’s publishing empire soon expanded overseas and grew to more newsletters and magazines on investing, travel, health, and business. The Agora, for instance, started publishing Les Belle Lettres, the world’s largest publisher of the Greek and Roman classics.
Business interests expanded into real estate holdings and restaurants, as well.
As The Agora grew in the 2000s, Bonner grew as a businessman and philanthropist. The Agora founded a non-profit in 2002 called the Roberto Clemente Santa Ana Health Clinic. It serves about 12,000 patients annually in the southwest Nicaragua community of Limon 1 with low-cost and free medical care.
Bonner also served as a director of Money Week from 2003 to 2009. In 2011, Agora also acquired Laissez-Faire Books, the nation’s oldest libertarian bookstore.
During his time at Money Week, Bonner began his career as a best-selling author. He first published The Idea of America in 2003 with intellectual historian Pierre Lemieux and wrote 9 other books through 2016.
His books Financial Reckoning Day, and Empire of Debt, were New York Times best sellers and correctly predicted the 2008 Financial Crisis. His book Mobs, Markets, and Messiahs was also a New York Times bestseller and won a 2008 GetAbstract International Book Award.
The overarching themes of Bonner’s works argue that the financial future of the United States is in serious danger of collapse. Several economic and demographic trends serve as catalysts, such as America’s large trade deficit, costly foreign policy misadventures, and debt-riddled credit system that could eventually collapse the banking system.
Today, The Agora includes dozens of privately run independent publishing and media companies with individual brand identities. Perhaps, you’re familiar with some of the ones that focus on finance and investment research:
- Banyan Hill Publishing
- The Oxford Club
- Brownstone Research
- Money Map Press
- Stansberry Research
- Empire Financial Research
- Investor Place
- Rogue Economics
- Paradigm Press
Although Bill Bonner keeps a relatively low profile, his imprint can be felt all over the investment research world. He no longer publishes his daily financial newsletter, “Bill Bonner’s Diary,” but still contributes to LewRockwell.com and MoneyWeek magazine. You can also find his latest regular commentary on The Daily Reckoning’s Australia website.
Bill Bonner Review
Bill Bonner is a unique stock guru to research and is very different from many you might come across. He doesn’t have an investment banking background or any experience with technicals or analytics. He stands apart from other gurus because of his broad knowledge of the world around us and his business acumen. He is a free thinker who takes great pride in that he and his newsletters are alternative sources of information that go where mainstream media refuses to go.
Is Bill Bonner legit? Check out our complete review.
Education
- BA University of New Mexico, JD Georgetown Law School (Early-1970s)
Careers
Investment/Publishing Career
Mid-1970s
- After graduating from Georgetown, worked with Jim Davidson at the National Taxpayers Union
- The National Taxpayers Union is a fiscally conservative taxpayer advocacy organization and taxpayers union
- Also the U.S.’s oldest taxpayer advocacy organization
1978
- Launched The Agora in 1978 as a source for newsletters and publications for topics often overlooked by the mainstream media
- First newsletter was called International Living
- The newsletter found instant success with topics like working, investing, and retiring overseas
1980s and 1990s
- The Agora continued to expand with more and more publishing subsidiaries and newsletters
- First successful prediction came in the late-80s- the fall of the Soviet Union
- Agora Financial was birthed from three newsletters- Strategic Investment (1984), Plague of the Black Debt (1992), and The Daily Reckoning (1999)
2000s
- More and more newsletters and magazines on investing, travel, health, and business began to hit the interwebs.
- Began overseas expansion
- Served as a director of Money Week from 2003 to 2009
- Agora Financial became a standalone LLC in 2004
- Accurately predicted the dotcom bust and how the housing bubble’s and credit bubble’s excesses would lead to the collapse of Lehman Bros. and the financial crisis
- Business interests also expanded into real estate holdings and restaurants
- Acquired Laissez-Faire Books in 2011, the nation’s oldest libertarian bookstore
Present Day
- The Agora serves as the parent company for over thirty subsidiaries that generate roughly $500 million in revenue
Approximately one million readers throughout the world - Bonner is believed to have investments in five continents and a net worth of around $950 million
- Contributes to LewRockwell.com and MoneyWeek magazine
- Still regularly writes in The Daily Reckoning
Author
2003
2007
- Published two New York Times best-sellers- Empire of Debt: The Rise of an Epic Financial Crisis, and Financial Reckoning Day: Surviving the Soft Depression of the 21st Century
2009
- Published another New York Times best-seller Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics
- Also won a 2008 GetAbstract International Book Award
- Financial Reckoning Day Fallout: Surviving Today’s Global Depression
- The New Empire of Debt: The Rise and Fall of an Epic Financial Bubble
2011
2012
2014
2016
Philanthropy
2002
- Founded the non-profit Roberto Clemente Santa Ana Health Clinic.
- Provides free and low cost medical care to the southwest Nicaragua’s Limon 1 community.
- Serves roughly 12,000 patients annually.
Publications
- “(Hormegeddon) is a must, must, must read.” –”Black Swan” author Nassim Taleb