罗伯特法尔在第二次世界大战中，罗伯特·法拉尔举办了父亲的建议，放弃了他的工程雄心，以跟随金钱到华尔街。Farrell，79，毕业于曼哈顿学院的经济学和财经学士学位。Figuring an Ivy League degree would make him more marketable, he studied under Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, authors of the researchers’ bible, Security Analysis, at Columbia Business School, emerging with a master’s in investment finance in 1955. After a two-year stint in the U.S. Army, Farrell entered the analyst-training program at Merrill Lynch. Despite his studies in fundamental value under Graham and Dodd, he became a technical analyst. Farrell credits mentor and head of research William Dunkak with teaching him about the markets. Farrell decided to focus on something that would be useful to institutional investors: market commentary. At first targeted for internal use only, by 1971, Farrell’s reports began to be published outside Merrill Lynch. “I wrote in a didactic style, explaining how I came to my conclusions and how contrary thinking was useful,” recalls Farrell, who earned first place when Market Timing (which became Technical Analysis) was introduced as a sector in the All-America Research Team, in 1976. “My whole experience on the economy has been, if the majority of economists agreed on something, I knew I had to watch for something different.” By 1980, when Farrell was in his fifth year on the first team, II attributed a large measure of his success to his attention to the psychology of market players, or sentiment indicators, rather than business cycle indicators. Working at the largest U.S. brokerage, with its vast database, also meant he had a handle on what the bulk of investors were feeling. Farrell, then 47, admitted that “Merrill Lynch data is a big help,” noting that structural changes in the market, such as options and arbitrage transactions, were making public information less valuable.
16年后作为第一队员，Farrell于1993年放弃了技术分析，写出了在十年后退休前的投资主题和技术繁荣等投资主题的报告。像许多成功的分析师一样，Farrell强调了良好的沟通的重要性。“我开始成为一个可怕的演讲者，我不知道如何写作，”他说，“但我从练习中学到了。”至于他今天的建议，Farrell在华尔街上有一个卖的信号。他说，今天的大学毕业生应该考虑制造业的职业生涯。“金融业务处于下调状态。”
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