The business of retirement

THE story about BlackRock's beginnings goes like this. It was 1988, junk bonds were the rage, but the Fed was tightening. Many investors suffered serious losses.

A group of eight Wall Street bond experts gathered in a room with a shared telephone one morning to set up a new bond shop, believing they can help investors understand risk.

"We sat around, called everyone that we knew. By 10am we were finished. Everyone wished us good luck but no one gave us any business. . . someone told us, 'Just what the world needs, another bond manager'," recalls BlackRock's president Rob Kapito, one of the eight present.