Behind the Balance Sheet Podcast - The Pugilist

Terry Smith is the fund manager the professionals love to hate. A billionaire, he is in the third and most successful phase of a varied career. He trounced the index for years with a simple mantra of buy good companies, don’t overpay, do nothing. He thus built one of the largest funds in the UK, made himself a fortune and moved to Mauritius. None of this made him popular with his peers and after 5 years of underperforming the S&P500 (his global fund has been mainly invested in the US) and underperforming the world index in 2025, there is quite a bit of schadenfreude around. Smith used to box for fun and you wouldn’t want to be on the wrong side of him, but in this interview, he reveals a side less often seen.

He confesses to being unable to sleep at night, worrying about stocks and expresses an extreme desire to do the best for his clients. Smith has been incredibly successful as an analyst, as a public company CEO and now as a fund manager. He attributes it to hard work and a strong desire to succeed, driven by his background – Smith comes from a poor family and grew up in a house with an outside toilet. He is frustrated with his recent performance but is resolute that he has the right approach and will prevail eventually.

Listen to the podcast on Spotify (audio only): https://open.spotify.com/episode/3UYrAKvHYw97qEfTKf0qGa?go=1&sp_cid=f9c62e333d1622b068a6b506425f7bf9&nd=1&dlsi=d55ccab2f097457f