Alvin Hall

Alvin D. Hall (born June 27, 1952) is an American financial adviser, author and media personality.

Early life

Alvin D. Hall was born on June 27, 1952, in Tallahassee, Florida, one of seven children to a family of farmers, day workers and fishermen. Interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 programme Midweek he said that his grandmother had told him he was "everything he had", something that helped him get through difficult financial decisions; she was also a great saver and gave him 50 dollars when he was heading to Yale university. He grew up in severe poverty. He studied for a Bachelor of Arts in English at Bowdoin College and a Master of Arts in American literature at the University of North Carolina. After a period of unemployment and working as a college professor (teaching literature), he started to take an interest in finance.

Financial adviser

Hall started buying shares a few at a time and his ability to translate complex financial concepts into simple English through the use of slices of cake led to him becoming director of course development at Leo Fleur, a company selling training materials for Wall Street examinations. In 1986 he became director of marketing for the Chicago-based Longman Financial Services Institute in creating and implementing marketing campaigns for training programmes and products and consequently was executive director of the New York Institute of Finance.

Alvin Hall (American football)

Alvin Eugene Hall is a former professional American football player who played safety for six seasons for the Detroit Lions. Previously, Alvin played at Dayton Fairview High School in Dayton, Ohio. Alvin led the Bulldogs basketball team as the point guard to the first City Conference title in 33 years and played safety on the football team winning their division one year.