Hedge Fund Manager: A Quick Look at the World’s Best Paid Job
Too Much
Are hedge fund managers overpaid?
Show me the money
There really is quite a lot to show. Consider that the highest salary paid to a hedge fund manager by their fund was $4,900,000,000 which was made by John Paulson in 2010. To put this number in perspective the average Wal-Mart employee would have to work 136,000 years to earn that.
Paulson is not alone in the billion a year category. Other managers such as James Simons, George Soros, Phillip Falcone and T. Boone Pickens have all earned nine figures in one year. So, there really is mega bucks to be made in hedge funds.
Top 3 Earners of 2012
Manager
| Fund
| Salary
|
|---|---|---|
Ray Dilo
| Bridgewater Associates
| £1.97 Billion
|
James Simons
| Renaissance Technologies
| £1.38 Billion
|
Carl Ichan
| Ichan Capital Management
| £1.31 Billion
|
What do Hedge Funds Actually do?
Firstly, they are very complicated. If they were simple everyone would be running a hedge fund.
In their simplest form they take investors money and invest it for a fee. They are called “hedge” funds because they are set up (usually) so that they can make money if markets go up or down. They typically take on more risk than other investments and have access to more complex financial instruments. Also, importantly, they are able to borrow money from banks with which to invest which magnifies there potential returns (this is called leverage).
Worlds Richest Hedge Fund Manager
How do they Make so Much Money?
Simply: they charge very big fees. Typically a hedge fund manager will take 2% of the money in the fund each year and 20% of all the profits. So, if you run a big fund which makes big profits you get insane amounts of money. Considering that the assets invested globally in hedge funds is around $2.1 trillion dollars (in 2012) there is plenty cash from which managers can deduct fees.
Further Reading
How do you become a hedge fund manager?
Again, it’s not easy because if it was everyone would be doing it. The steps required to becoming a hedge fund manager are:
- Become a financial wizard (or make people think that you are one)
- Convince lots of people to give you huge amounts of money to invest
That’s basically it. You just need to be very smart and have a lot of money to move. A typical way hedge fund managers raise money is by working for an investment bank (e.g. Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citi etc) and acquiring very rich contacts.
Furthermore, hedge fund managers tend to be intense and highly motivated people. Most managers have had to stomach huge losses and set backs on their way to the top. Could you handle managing billions of dollars of other people’s money (and lots of your own too) during the financial crash? Can you handle that level of stress? Also, if you’re starting work at 5AM it probably means that your late.
