The Obsessive Life of Bond Guru Bill Gross

One Sunday evening last year, Bill Gross was settling down in front of the television to watch some football when his wife’s cellphone rang.

“I’ve had a beer and a half – that’s as far as I go – but I’m feeling good,” he recalled earlier this month. His wife, Sue, picked up the phone and said, “It’s for you, sweetheart – somebody by the name of Tim Geithner.”

One of the world’s legendary investors, Mr. Gross doesn’t have a cellphone. So when the U.S. Treasury Secretary needed to reach him, the call was routed to his wife. “We chatted for 30 minutes in my inebriated state about what to do about the U.S. economy,” he says with an impish smile.