Raoul Pal: Short biography of a finance influencer

Raoul Pal (born 1968), is a British investor based in the Cayman Islands. He is best known for his Global Macro Investor paid newsletter, and for co-founding investment streaming platform Real Vision. 

Pal’s speciality is “macro” investing, involving bets on stocks, currencies, commodities and futures based on judgements about the direction of national economies and political policies. He represents a new type of “finance influencer” enabled by big online audiences.

Raoul Pal’s father was from the Punjab in India, and his mother from the Netherlands. He earned a degree in economics and law from the University of Plymouth in 1990.

Pal’s first jobs were with financial information company Dow Jones Telerate, then James Capel & Co. After a stint at Natwest Markets, in 1997 he joined Goldman Sachs, managing its European hedge fund sales business in equities and equity derivatives.

Pal became a co-manager of the hedge fund GLG’s Global Macro Fund in London. He retired from corporate banking in 2004 at the age of 36. The following year, from his then base in Spain he began The Global Macro Investor newsletter - which he still writes. 

In 2014, Raoul co-founded Real Vision, a financial video streaming company which helps people understand the “complex world of finance, business, and the global economy, with in-depth analysis from real experts.” Co-founders: Damian Horner, Grant Williams, and Remi Tetot.

Real Vision offered long video interviews with investors and traders so its followers and subscribers could understand investing in some depth. This marked a change from mainstream financial media focused on short-term market movements and headlines. 

Via his Twitter following of just under 1 million, Pal is known for his bullish investments in Bitcoin. He is not a Bitcoin “maximalist” and invests in a range of cryptocurrencies. In his book Adventures in Crypto (2023), Pal interviews ten crypto experts and entrepreneurs.

“Yes, there is a bitcoin revolution but there is a digital asset revolution going on that is beyond incredible. It is very early days, like BTC in 2013, but it's happening.” Raoul Pal, Twitter February 2021

Bottom Line: Raoul Pal’s influence plays out through three platforms: Global Macro Investor and Real Vision for macro investing and financial markets generally, and his Twitter account for crypto investing and trends. Pal’s personal worth is unknown.