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The motivation for him was being able to pick the moving parts and recognize the direction of stocks. He didn't think about compensation.

Reflecting on the importance of the technology sector today, Steinhardt draws an analogy to the electronics field in the 1960s. Electronic companies added "onics" to their names and went public. "The euphoria today is broader based." Steinhardt feels that the distinction between the New Economy and the Old Economy won't last and they will eventually be melded back into one economy.

When Steinhardt retired, he stopped managing other investors' money. He trades a small amount of his own capital but primarily allocates it to about 30 other managers, mostly arbitrage and other conservative styles. His goal is to maintain the capital that he's made and to earn a good return.

Steinhardt also had a four-year struggle with the government about his role in the 1991 U.S. Treasury bond auction scandal at Salomon Brothers. He eventually paid $40 million to settle it.53

Why did he retire? Steinhardt had taken a sabbatical in 1978—which had initially been intended as retirement. He couldn't find anything compelling to do, though, so he returned and is glad he did. At that time, his net worth was $7 million. But by 1995, his goal was to do something else—something more virtuous and more noble than being a great money manager. He tells how one investor had sent him a letter and a photo of a new boat. The investor thanked Steinhardt—it was profits in the Steinhardt fund that had enabled him to buy the boat. Steinhardt found this demeaning. He didn't want to be remembered for being a great money manager—he needed to do something else.

Since his retirement, Steinhardt has consciously developed outside interests—politics, making movies, art collecting, Jewish philanthropy, horticulture. Steinhardt is also writing a book about his life. He says what gives him the most pleasure is his 52-acre estate in Bedford, New York, with its gardens and exotic animals—camels, zebras, llamas, kangaroos, and monkeys. He is no longer involved with politics, and none of his movies have been profitable, he says.

His office is packed full with his Judaica collection—a five-foot high menorah, charity boxes, Torah mantles. Steinhardt, who is an atheist, felt that having possession of these objects would make religion more important to him. This, however, has not happened. His interest is in the advancement of Jewish education outside religious institutions.