Self-made billionaire credits stoic philosophy for success: Goes against the grain of contemporary culture

Robert Rosenkranz is a self-made billionaire.His key to success: stoic philosophy.In his new book, “The Stoic Capitalist: Advice for the Exceptionally Ambitious,” Rosenkranz shares how ancient wisdom from the likes of Epictetus, Seneca, and Marcus Aurelius shaped his own success — and can inspire yours, too.“This whole book in a way goes against the grain of a lot of contemporary culture,” Rosenkranz told The Post.

“It’s talking about self-reliance.It’s talking about taking full responsibility for your own life.

It’s talking about not considering yourself a victim.It’s talking about quitting worrying about things that you can’t change.”The book, out May 6th, is a memoir with ancient wisdom sprinkled generously throughout.

Rosenkranz, 82, is a self-made billionaire and a major industry leader in private equity, multi-strategy hedge funds, and the insurance industry.He retired as CEO of Delphi Financial Group in 2018, where he grew the company’s worth 100-fold.“This is a book for anybody who aspires to live a life that gets them the distance from where they were as a child,” Rosenkranz, who grew up in a one bedroom ground floor apartment in Manhattan with his parents, said.

“These are ideas you can use to realize your childhood dreams.”He was inspired to write the book because his nieces and nephews wanted to record interviews with him about his life, but Rosenkranz, 82, insists this book isn’t an exercise in self-aggrandizing. “This project wasn’t just celebrating myself,” he said.“I was really trying to do something useful to give people some ideas that they could use to thrive in their own lives, which is why I framed it all in terms of cognitive theory and stoic philosophy.”The book is spliced up into short chapters that follow his life from childhood to the present day, and include topics like getting rich slowly, how to get angry, and death and taxes.“You could read any chapter, and they more or less stand on...