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So long, suckers! Millionaire hedge fund boss thanks 'idiot' traders and retires
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| VERTiG0 |
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/...nking-useconomy
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The boss of a successful US hedge fund has quit the industry with an extraordinary farewell letter dismissing his rivals as over-privileged "idiots" and thanking "stupid" traders for making him rich.
Andrew Lahde's $80m Los Angeles-based firm Lahde Capital Management in Los Angeles made a huge return last year by betting against subprime mortgages.
Yesterday the 37-year-old told his clients that he had hated the business and had only been in it for the money. And after declaring he would no longer manage money for other people, because he had enough of his own, Lahde said that instead he intended to repair his stress-damaged health; he made it clear he would not miss the financial world.
"The low-hanging fruit, ie idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking," he wrote. "These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government," he said.
"All of this behaviour supporting the aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America."
Lahde became one of the biggest names in the investment industry when one of his funds produced a return of 866% last year, largely by forecasting the US home loans industry would collapse.
In his farewell letter, which concluded with an appeal for the legalisation of marijuana, Lahde said he was happy with his rewards and did not envy those who had made even more money.
"I will let others try to amass nine, 10 or 11 figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck," he wrote, citing a life of back-to-back business appointments relieved only by a two-week annual holiday in which financiers are still "glued to their Blackberries".
Lahde's retirement came amid an implosion among the hedge fund industry - some 350 of the funds have liquidated this year, according to Hedge Fund Research.
His final words of advice? "Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life."
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This guy is the BEST. |
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| Jer |
| I hereby award this man ten internets |
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| Anas Attia |
| ha ha this guy is jokes. what hes saying is so true |
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| Yohan |
| retiring at 37 is pretty darn sweet though |
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| MattVagrant |
| Good for him. That's awesome. |
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| Sly_Guy |
This reminds me of a movie known as half baked :
" you, you, you, you're cool, you, I'm out!"
When I'm done, I want the freedom to go out like this. |
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| Skipper |
haha, as if he declared he had only been in it for the money, as if that's going to come as some great surprise to anyone.
Others have predicted the housing market collapse and made similar bets, except they aren't necessarily fund managers, so they don't get the same recognition. Fairfax Financial made a tidy profit on its credit default swaps recently after AIG collapsed. |
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| InfiniteEclipse |
| Now now, lets not get ahead of ourselves. Leave the blackberry out of this. |
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| fuzz |
all i can say is wow - this guy totally hit the nail on the head with his comments...
so many traders/ibankers/brokers get soo caught up in pushing deals that don't make sense for clients and just being insanely greedy, it was no surprise to see the whole thing come crashing down. It just saddens me that the real losers are the average investor who provides rrsp funds to these financial institutions and (most) hedge funds only for it to get annihilated. if you got investments, grin and bear it as canada will make it through but america is pretty %*$*%^ up. i'm just waiting for canadian real estate to cool off (next 1.5 years i think) so average people can afford to buy a home
clearly - i'm getting emotional but all i can say is this man is an inspiration |
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| Cuzo |
| Love this guy but I still would NEVER throw away my Blackberry! |
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| rabbitjoker |
| This guy is an idiot himself. |
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| MarkT |
meh, this isn't exactly a rare occurance, as Sarah pointed out.
this douchebag just decided to be a little less discrete about his not-so-safe bet paying off.
I guess this is a good example of why some in the investment world say "listen very carefully to what the experts all have to say...then do the opposite". |
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