“Work actively and constantly on turning a correct idea into a useful action which will then become an unconscious habit – if you do, you can manage to be a successful trader, too.” – Norman Waltz

John Paulson was born in December 14, 1955, to Alfred G. and Jacqueline Paulson, who both immigrated to the US from different countries (Alfred came from Ecuador and Jacqueline came from Lithuania). He’s the 3^rd of the 4 children born to the couple. Growing up in New York, and spending some of his time in Ecuador, he eventually received his first degree in finance from New York University Stern School of Business (then the New York University's College of Business and Public Administration). He was advised to apply to Harvard Business School – something he did, and he was admitted. After this, he earned the Sidney J. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs scholarship, and at last, bagged his MBA in 1980 (being in the top 5% of his class).

Paul first served as a research analyst at Boston Consulting Group in 1980. He was very good at his job but he was not yet trading or investing. He quit that company to work at Odyssey Partners. He also had some work experience at Bear Stearns and Gruss Partners LP. With $2,000,000 and one worker, he started Paulson & Co. (his own fund) in 1994, based in New York. This American hedge fund manager went short on subprime mortgages in 2007 and earned profits totaling $3,700,000,000 in the same year. In the year 2010, he earned a salary of almost $5,000,000,000. The windfall was realized when the bubbles of mortgage backed securities market went burst. The bet against the subprime mortgage bubble was one of the best trades in human history. He’s long invested his personal fortune in gold, and as a result of this, additional $3,100,000,000 was made between the year 2010 and the year 2011. In the year 2012, with a net worth of $12,500,000,000, Forbes ranked him 61^st on the list of the richest individuals the world over. He’s spent hundreds of millions of dollars in buying several homes. He’s also spent hundreds of millions of dollars for various causes and charities.