Classic Investing Book
Supermoney
by Adam Smith (George J.W. Goodman)
The 1972 cult classic that profiled Warren Buffett before anyone knew his name, exposed the institutional money management machine, and asked the question nobody on Wall Street wanted to answer: what is money, really?
Reviewed by a real investor with a public track record
1972
First published
320
Pages
9/10
Glen's rating
Cult Classic
Status among investors
What Is Supermoney About?
Published in 1972, Supermoney is the sequel to George Goodman's wildly successful The Money Game (1968). Writing under the pen name “Adam Smith,” Goodman turns his attention from the psychology of individual investors to the big picture: institutional money management, the nature of money itself, and the people who actually move markets.
The book came at a pivotal moment. The go-go fund managers of the 1960s had crashed and burned. Nixon had just taken the U.S. off the gold standard. The financial world was in the middle of an identity crisis. And Goodman — Harvard-educated, Rhodes Scholar, with a novelist's eye for character — was there to document all of it.
The result is part journalism, part philosophy, part comedy. Goodman writes about money with the wit of a novelist and the rigor of a trained economist. He visits fund managers, central bankers, and a young investor in Omaha named Warren Buffett who had just dissolved his partnership and was quietly buying shares of a textile company called Berkshire Hathaway.
Key Concepts
Institutional Money Management
Goodman pulls back the curtain on how institutions actually manage money — the politics, the groupthink, the career risk that makes fund managers hug benchmarks instead of thinking independently. Written in 1972 and still painfully accurate today.
The Warren Buffett Profile
Goodman was one of the first journalists to profile Warren Buffett in a major book. He visited Omaha, watched Buffett work, and recognized genius before the rest of the world caught on. This chapter alone makes the book essential reading.
The Nature of Money
What is money, really? Goodman explores money as a shared belief system — its relationship to gold, government, and trust. The chapter on the Nixon shock (ending the gold standard) reads like it was written yesterday.
Performance Investing
The rise and spectacular fall of the 1960s go-go fund managers. Goodman documents how the performance cult led to concentration, leverage, and eventual blowups — a pattern that repeats every generation.
Identity and Money
Perhaps the most personal insight in the book: your relationship with money is inseparable from your identity. Goodman argues that until you understand why you want money, you will never use it well.
The Warren Buffett Profile
The most historically significant section of Supermoney is Goodman's profile of Warren Buffett. In 1972, Buffett was virtually unknown outside of Omaha. He had dissolved the Buffett Partnership in 1969 after compounding at 31% annually for 13 years. He was buying shares of a struggling textile company. Most people thought he had retired.
Goodman saw something different. He traveled to Omaha, sat with Buffett, and documented a mind that thought about investing in a fundamentally different way from the institutional herd. While fund managers in New York were chasing the “Nifty Fifty” growth stocks, Buffett was reading annual reports, thinking about competitive advantages, and buying entire businesses.
Reading this chapter today — knowing what Buffett became — is extraordinary. Goodman captured the origin story before anyone else. He recognized genius in real time, which is something most journalists never manage to do.
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Glen's Take
From a real investor with a public track record
I picked up Supermoney because someone on a value investing forum said it was “the most entertaining finance book ever written.” They were right. Goodman writes about money the way Hunter S. Thompson writes about politics — with style, humor, and an outsider's willingness to say what insiders won't.
What hit me hardest was the chapter on institutional money management. I ran a hedge fund called Global Speculation LP. I saw exactly what Goodman describes: the groupthink, the career risk of being different, the way institutions would rather fail conventionally than succeed unconventionally. He documented this in 1972 and absolutely nothing has changed.
The Buffett profile is obviously legendary in retrospect, but what I love about it is how clearly Goodman understood what made Buffett special before the results proved it to the world. That takes real insight. Most financial journalists just write about winners after they've already won. Goodman found the winner in the dugout.
If you've read Security Analysis and want something lighter but equally insightful, this is your next book. It's the rare finance book that makes you think and laugh.
Who Should Read Supermoney?
Value Investors
The early Buffett profile and institutional analysis provide context that Security Analysis and The Intelligent Investor don't cover.
Finance History Buffs
The collapse of the go-go era, the end of the gold standard, the birth of index investing — all captured by someone who was there.
Professional Money Managers
If you manage other people's money, the chapters on institutional behavior will either make you laugh or make you uncomfortable. Probably both.
Anyone Who Enjoyed The Money Game
If you liked the first one, the sequel is better. Goodman matured as a writer and broadened his lens. More substance, same wit.
If You Liked Supermoney, Also Read
The Money Game
Adam Smith (George Goodman)
The prequel. More focused on individual investor psychology.
Security Analysis
Benjamin Graham & David Dodd
The technical foundation Buffett built on. Dense but essential.
The Intelligent Investor
Benjamin Graham
Graham's book for individual investors. The best starting point.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Adam Smith the author of Supermoney?
Adam Smith is the pen name of George Jerome Waldo Goodman (1930-2014), an American author, broadcaster, and financial commentator. He chose the pen name as a nod to the 18th-century economist. Goodman was a Harvard-educated Rhodes Scholar who became one of the most influential financial writers of the 20th century. He also hosted the PBS show 'Adam Smith's Money World' from 1984 to 1997.
Is Supermoney still relevant today?
Absolutely. The institutional dynamics Goodman describes — groupthink among fund managers, the career risk of being contrarian, the performance-chasing cycle — are identical today. The specific stocks and people have changed, but the human behavior is timeless. The Warren Buffett profile alone makes it worth reading, as it captures Buffett's thinking decades before he became a household name.
What is the difference between The Money Game and Supermoney?
The Money Game (1968) was Goodman's first book, focused on the psychology of individual investors and the culture of Wall Street in the go-go 1960s. Supermoney (1972) is the sequel, which zooms out to examine institutional money management, the nature of money itself, and the broader financial system. Both are excellent, but Supermoney is more substantive and analytical. Many readers consider Supermoney the better book.
Why did George Goodman profile Warren Buffett in Supermoney?
Goodman was looking for investors who genuinely thought differently from the institutional herd. He had heard about a young investor in Omaha who had compiled an extraordinary track record at the Buffett Partnership before dissolving it in 1969. Goodman traveled to Omaha, spent time with Buffett, and recognized that his approach — deep fundamental analysis, patience, and independent thinking — was the antithesis of the performance-chasing institutional culture he was critiquing.
Where can I get a copy of Supermoney?
Glen hosts a free PDF on this site for educational purposes (download link above). You can also buy a physical copy on Amazon — the Wiley Investment Classics edition is the best version. Used copies are readily available for under $15. Unlike some classic investing books (looking at you, Margin of Safety), Supermoney is not rare or expensive.
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Burton Malkiel's classic case for index investing. The book that convinced millions to stop stock-picking.
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