Sheldon Jacobs, author of "Put Money in Your Pocket" (1974), the first ever self-help book on mutual funds, died in Paradise Valley, Arizona, on March 20.

401kWire has learned that Jacobs died of a heart attack while taking a walk near his home in Paradise Valley, Arizona. Bloomberg subsequently reported on his passing.

Jacobs' initial claim to fame, following a career in television, was having founded an investment newsletter, The No-Load Fund Investor in 1979. It eventually became the leading financial newsletter on risk-adjusted performance in the United states until 2006.

In 2003, Jacobs sold The No-Load Fund investor to Mark Salzinger, a former investment associate at J.W. Seligman who had also worked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics at the US Department of Labor. Of Jacobs, Salzinger stated, "Sheldon was definitely ahead of his time, espousing low-cost investing more than four decades ago."

With Bob Brinker, a financial radio host and investment advisory publisher, in 1987, Jacobs co-founded The BJ Group, a registered investment advisor which managed $600 million in assets for more than 1,000 clients as of 2000, when it was sold.

Most recently prior to his death, Jacobs wrote another book on investing, Investing Without Wall Street, Five Essentials for Financial Freedom in 2012. He also appeared frequently as a speaker on the Money Show and the American Association of Individual Investors.

He also served on the Board of Directors of the Westchester Community College Foundation and as a contributing editor to The No-Load Fund Investor.

Jacobs was 84 years old and is survived by his second wife, Bette, and two children.

Visitation services, with a funeral service, will be held from 5:00-6:00PM MST, Thursday, March 26 at Whitney & Murphy Funeral Home, 4800 E. Indian School Road, Phoenix. The internment will be at Mount Moriah Cemetary in Deadwood, South Dakota.  

Edited by: Sophia Solivio


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