Understanding wealth by learning from the past.
Explore the people, events, ideas, and lessons that shaped markets and money.
Latest Profiles
Explore the Archive
People & Fortunes
Profiles of remarkable lives and enduring fortunes.
Triumphs, losses, and legacies.
History Lessons
Turning points that moved markets and nations.
What happened—and why.
Present Lessons
Today’s challenges in historical perspective.
Context for wiser decisions.
TODAY IN MONEY HISTORY
Long-Term Capital Management Is Bailed Out
1998
Long-Term Capital Management Is Bailed Out — on this day in financial history. The Federal Reserve brokers a $3.6 billion private rescue of LTCM, a hedge fund run by Nobel laureates whose models...
Read today’s eventFull calendar →Editor’s Picks
Six stories selected by the WealthPast editorial team.
Cornelius Vanderbilt: From Steamships to Railroad Power
Cornelius Vanderbilt’s power did not begin with a giant railroad. It began on the water: moving passengers…
5 Richest Men of the Gilded Age
Gilded Age fortunes reshaped industry and public life, but historical records cannot produce one reliable modern rich…
Mansa Musa’s Pilgrimage: Gold, Trade, and What the Record Can Actually Prove
Record Can Actually Prove — this is the complete story, with the numbers and the lessons. Mansa…
J. P. Morgan, Panic of 1907, and the Limits of a Private Lender of Last Resort
A source-based account of J. P. Morgan’s role in the Panic of 1907, distinguishing private coordination from…
Elon Musk, Ownership, and the Limits of a Trillion-Dollar Narrative
A source-based guide to company value, ownership, and why a market headline is not a personal balance…
Two Brothers, One Inheritance: The Cost of Starting Without a Plan
Two Brothers One Inheritance — this is the complete story, with the numbers and the lessons. Two…