INVESTMENT: The Big Stock Winners of 1972

IN financial myth, the stock market millionaire builds his fortune by a dizzying series of complicated speculations. In reality, the market often reserves its greatest gains for a tiny circle of people who do little if any discernible trading.

During 1972, at least four individuals and three families in the U.S. are known to have made on paper not just millions but tens or hundreds of millions of dollars in stock profits. Alas for the dreams of the average investor, all were rich to begin with, and their formula for multiplying wealth is,...

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