This Boston Investor Handles $188 Billion More Than the Largest Hedge Fund… and He’s Up 41% in 2024

Alright, I’ll say it: I can’t be the only one bored to tears hearing the same investing names over and over. Warren Buffett, Jim Simons… yeah, yeah, they’re the GOATs, blah blah blah. But come on, it’s like Hollywood casting the same A-listers for every sequel. (Looking at you, The Rock.) Where’s the fresh blood?

Which is why today, we’re gonna talk about Will Danoff. The unsung maestro behind Fidelity’s Contrafund who’s quietly putting up numbers that would make even George Soros jealous (and that guy loves $).

(Source: The Boston Globe)

Danoff isn’t just some random dude in a Boston cubicle chugging Dunkin’ and cursing the Yankees. He’s been single-handedly running the Fidelity Contrafund since 1990. That’s 34 years of mopping the floor with benchmarks while the rest of us are just hoping our savings account beats inflation. He’s managing $300 billion in client money right now ($155 billion of it in Contrafund alone). For perspective, that’s like being in charge of New Zealand’s entire GDP.

And 2024? Oh, he’s just on track for his best year since George H.W. Bush was in office, with Contrafund flaunting a ridiculous 41% return so far. That’s not just good… it’s “Usain Bolt breaking the 100m record” good. Danoff’s 64 and still sprinting laps around fund managers half his age, while they’re content sipping LaCroix and praying their ETFs beat treasury yields.

It’s weird, right? Danoff has outperformed the S&P 500 across every conceivable time frame… 1 year, 5 years, 34 years (no big deal, just 8,870% total return since he started). Yet, unless you’re deep in the investing world, his name isn’t trending on Twitter. Part of the reason? Mutual funds aren’t exactly sexy these days. Index funds have taken over, and most people see active managers as relics. But Danoff? He’s like the last Jedi of stock-picking, swinging big on names like Meta and Nvidia (together they make up 25% of Contrafund), and crushing it while others are playing it safe.

Danoff doesn’t play by rigid rules. His strategy? Flexibility. He invests wherever there’s opportunity, even if the stocks look "expensive." Starbucks at 35x earnings back in the day? He saw the potential and rode that wave for years. His mantra: Invest in the best, even if it costs more upfront. As he says, “The price is forgotten, the quality remains.” Oh, and let’s not pretend he’s just sitting in some corner office, letting an algorithm do the heavy lifting while he perfects his golf swing. Danoff rolls up his sleeves and dives deep… meeting with execs and dissecting their strategies like a Michelin chef critiquing a fast-food burger. This isn’t just luck… Danoff has mastered the art of seeing what others miss.

Fidelity swears they’ve got a succession plan, but let’s be real… how do you replace a guy who’s managed more money solo than Bridgewater Associates, the world’s biggest hedge fund? (For context, Bridgewater manages $112 billion.) It’s like the media trying to replace the Donald Trump press with anyone else and still see the same numbers. Good luck.

Next time someone starts rattling off investing greats, throw this one at them: “Oh, cool story about Buffett. But is your guy single-handedly managing $300 billion and pulling a 41% return this year? Didn’t think so. Ever heard of Will Danoff? And congrats, you are now the coolest finance bro in your pathetic friend group.

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Stock.News has positions in Meta and Starbucks.