Sophist Posted July 6, 2007 Haram I know!. These guys are skillful indeed. The Top Hedge-Fund Traders Stevie Cohen Estimated Income: $500-$550 million David Tepper Estimated Income: $450-$500 million James Simons Estimated Income: $400-$450 million Bruce Kovner Estimated Income: $350-$400 million Paul Tudor Jones II Estimated Income: $350-$400 million Stanley Druckenmiller Estimated Income: $250-$300 million Louis Bacon Estimated Income: $200-$250 million Ken Griffin Estimated Income: $200-$250 million Stephen Mandel Estimated Income: $200-$250 million Keith Campbell Estimated Income: $100-$150 million Leon Cooperman Estimated Income: $100-$150 million Raymond Dalio Estimated Income: $100-$150 million Dan Och Estimated Income: $100-$150 million Richard Perry Estimated Income: $100-$150 million Richard Chilton Estimated Income: $75-$100 million James Pallotta Estimated Income: $75-$100 million Stephen Feinberg Estimated Income: $50-$75 million Noam Gottesman Estimated Income: $50-$75 million Mark Kingdon Estimated Income: $50-$75 million Nick Maounis Estimated Income: $50-$75 million Ravi Mehra Estimated Income: $50-$75 million Raj Rajaratnam Estimated Income: $50-$75 million Matthew Tewksbury Estimated Income: $50-$75 million William von Mueffling Estimated Income: $50-$75 million Dwight Anderson Estimated Income: $40-$50 million Peter Briger Estimated Income: $40-$50 million John W. Henry Estimated Income: $40-$50 million Alan Howard Estimated Income: $40-$50 million Mike Novogratz Estimated Income: $40-$50 million Lief Rosenblatt Estimated Income: $40-$50 million Paul Brewer Estimated Income: $30-$40 million Philip Falcone Estimated Income: $30-$40 million Warren Mosler III Estimated Income: $30-$40 million John Taylor Jr. Estimated Income: $30-$40 million Dmitry Balyasny Estimated Income: $20-$30 million David Beach Estimated Income: $20-$30 million David Gorton Estimated Income: $20-$30 million R. Jerry Parker Jr. Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Eric Wepsic Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Doug Teitelbaum Estimated Income: $10-$15 million The Top Wall Street Traders Driss Ben-Brahim Estimated Income: $50-$60 million Yan Huo Estimated Income: $30-$40 million Dan Gold Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Geoff Grant Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Jonathan Hoffman Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Dinakar Singh Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Christian Siva-Jothy Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Brent Clapacs Estimated Income: $15-$20 million Michael Nierenberg Estimated Income: $15-$20 million Arvind Raghunathan Estimated Income: $15-$20 million Craig Reynolds Estimated Income: $15-$20 million Ashok Varadhan Estimated Income: $15-$20 million Mark Davies Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Mark Donegan Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Kaspar Ernst Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Eric Mindich Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Rajeev Misra Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Edward Misrahi Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Aziz Nahas Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Juan-Carlos Pinilla Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Andy Priston Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Jeffrey Verschleiser Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Boaz Weinstein Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Jeremy Barnum Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Alex Barrett Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Paul Calvetti Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Michael Clark Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Justin Gmelich Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Tom Hamilton Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Robert Heathcote Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Levent Kahraman Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Philippe Khuong-Huu Estimated Income: $5-$10 million David Langer Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Neal Leonard Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Angie Long Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Jeff Melnick Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Pete Najarian Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Graham Pattle Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Scott Prince Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Joe Russell Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Sigurbjorn Thorkelsson Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Scott Wede Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Todd White Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Karim Zahmoul Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Matt Zames Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Rest of the Best Maurice Samuels Estimated Income: $30-$40 million David Mittelman Estimated Income: $30-$40 million Jeffrey Cardot Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Michael Episcope Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Ramine Rouhani Estimated Income: $20-$30 million Jack DiMaio Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Mark Fisher Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Anthony Ward Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Dave Williams Estimated Income: $10-$15 million Scott DeSano Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Larry Falcone Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Stanley Jonas Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Steven Prosniewski Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Don Sliter Estimated Income: $5-$10 million Margie Teller Estimated Income: $5-$10 million NEW YORK, Nov. 09 /PRNewswire/ -- NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- In its debut issue, Trader Monthly Magazine has compiled a list of the top 100 financial traders in the world -- and the results are astounding. The 98 men and 2 women named in the "Trader Monthly 100" earned a combined $5.82 billion, with a median income of $25 million. "This list proves that Trader Monthly magazine is an idea whose time has come," says Randall Lane, the magazine's Editor-in-Chief. "It's a way to recognize the most talented members of the trading community, while inspiring the rest of the industry. I'm sure that next year's list will have many different names on it -- it's the nature of this particular business to have a lot of volatility." "This is the first list ever to separate traders into specific categories," says Senior Editor Richard Blake, a National Magazine Award finalist last year, who oversaw the four-person team that compiled the "Trader Monthly 100." "We have hedge fund traders, Wall Streeters, buy-side guys, and other types of traders. We wanted to show the top traders in the various categories." Interesting facts from the "Trader Monthly 100" include: * Hedge fund superhero Stevie Cohen led the pack, with an estimated annual income north of half a billion dollars. * Nearly 25% of the people on the list changed jobs within the past two years; 17% switched jobs in the past year. * The average age of a Trader Monthly 100 member is 41.5 -- the youngest is 27-year-old Andy "Braveheart" Priston, who took home between $10 and $15M. * The three most trader-friendly cities are New York (56), London (17) and Chicago (8). * Not a single NYSE specialist made the list, which bottomed out with traders making "only" $5 to $10M -- especially shocking in light of former chairman Dick Grasso's controversial compensation package. * Two women were included in the "100" -- J.P. Morgan Chase's Angie Long of New York, and Margie Teller, who trades on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. For inclusion in the "Trader Monthly 100," people were required to be actively trading during 2003. Trader Monthly is looking for the next generation of Englanders, Robertsons and Soros'. The salary ranges provided were conservatively stated after discussions with hundreds of industry sources and in most cases with the traders themselves. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sophist Posted July 6, 2007 Economic Scene: Everyone wants to manage a hedge fund By Robert H. Frank Published: July 5, 2007 NEW YORK: What are the career aspirations of the most accomplished and ambitious students these days? I haven't seen a formal survey, but a rapidly growing percentage of the best students I teach say they want to manage hedge funds or private equity firms. Little wonder. According to Institutional Investor's Alpha magazine, the hedge fund manager James Simons earned $1.7 billion last year, and two other managers earned more than $1 billion. The combined income of the top 25 hedge fund managers exceeded $14 billion in 2006. These managers also enjoy remarkably favorable tax treatment in the United States. For example, even though "carried interest" - mainly their 20 percent commission on portfolio gains - has the look and feel of ordinary income, it is taxed at the 15 percent capital gains rate rather than the 35 percent top rate for ordinary income. That provision alone saved Simons several hundred million dollars in taxes last year. Congress is now considering a proposal to tax carried interest as ordinary income. To no one's surprise, private equity lobbyists were quick to insist that doing so would cause grave economic damage. The deals brokered by their clients often create enormous value, to be sure. Yet the proposed legislation would not block a single transaction worth doing. What is more, economic analysis suggests that it would actually increase production in other sectors of the economy by reducing wasteful overcrowding in the market for aspiring portfolio managers. This market is what economists call a winner-take-all market - essentially a tournament in which a handful of winners are selected from a much larger field of initial contestants. Such markets tend to attract too many contestants for two reasons. The first is an information bias. An intelligent decision about whether to enter any tournament requires an accurate estimate of the odds of winning. Yet people's assessments of their relative skill levels are notoriously optimistic. Surveys show, for example, that more than 90 percent of workers consider themselves more productive than their average colleague. This overconfidence bias is especially likely to distort career choice because, in addition to the motivational forces that support it, the biggest winners in many tournaments are so conspicuous. For example, NBA stars who earn eight-figure salaries appear on television several nights a week, whereas the thousands who failed to make the league attract little notice. Similarly, hedge fund managers with 10-figure incomes are far more visible than the legions of contestants who never made the final cut. When people overestimate their chances of winning, too many forsake productive occupations in traditional markets to compete in winner-take-all markets. A second reason for persistent overcrowding in winner-take-all markets is a structural problem called "the tragedy of the commons." This problem helps explain, for instance, why we see too many gold prospectors, an occupation that has much in common with prospecting for corporate deals. In the initial stages of exploiting a newly discovered gold field, adding another prospector may significantly increase the total amount of gold found. Beyond some point, however, additional prospectors contribute little. The gold found by a newcomer to a crowded field is largely gold that would have been found by existing searchers. A simple numerical example helps illustrate why private incentives often lead to wasteful overcrowding under these circumstances. Consider a man who must choose whether to work as an engineer for $100,000 or become a prospector for gold. Suppose he considers the nonfinancial aspects of the two careers equally attractive and expects to find $110,000 in gold if he becomes a prospector, $90,000 of which would have been found in his absence by existing prospectors. Self-interest would then dictate a career in prospecting, since $110,000 exceeds the $100,000 engineering salary. But because his efforts would increase the total value of gold found by only $20,000, society's total income would have been $80,000 higher had he instead become an engineer. Similar incentives confront aspiring portfolio managers. Beyond some point, adding another highly paid manager produces little increase in industry commissions on managed investments. As in a crowded real estate market, the additional manager's commissions come largely at the expense of commissions that would have been generated by existing managers. So here, too, private incentives result in wasteful overcrowding. Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, a finance professor at Columbia University Business School, has argued that higher taxes on hedge fund and private equity firm managers are bad economic policy. "Private equity is a very important part our economy," he said, adding that higher taxes will discourage it. Others have characterized the proposed legislation as envy-driven class warfare. Both observations miss the essential point. No one denies that the talented people who guide capital to its most highly valued uses perform a vital service for society. But at any given moment, there are only so many deals to be struck. Sending ever larger numbers of our most talented graduates out to prospect for them has a high opportunity cost, yet adds little economic value. By making the after-tax rewards in the investment industry a little less spectacular, the proposed legislation would raise the attractiveness of other career paths, ones in which extra talent would yield substantial gains. And the additional tax revenue could pay for things that clearly need doing. For example, we could reduce the number of children who currently lack health insurance, or reduce the number of cargo containers that enter our ports without inspection. Opponents of higher taxes often invoke the celebrated trade-off between equity and efficiency. But that objection makes no sense here. Ending preferential tax treatment of portfolio managers' earnings would serve both goals at once. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-Serenity- Posted July 6, 2007 Hey! if you've the ingenuity, go for it. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gordon Gekko Posted July 6, 2007 As another poster mentioned some time ago, I believe the terrain to carve out the next billion dollar incomes from is in the Middle east. Islamic buy-out funds and Shari'a compliant hedge funds are still in their infancy... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sophist Posted July 6, 2007 Hedge Fund and Islam Sharia dont go together. Alot of Investors (Muslims with Shariah compliance investing in mind) are waking up to this fact. UBS has closed it is Shariah compliant franchise-- having rolled rolled out Sukuk deal worth around 800 mill in06.. Ramine (he is on the above list) who is a client of mine was echoing this fact. The reality is that most of the investors are waking up to is that most of these supposedly Islamic products are nothing but repackeged conventional products. The way forward is Illiquid assets sourced and securitised Islamically. However, the problem is that most of the guys who are involved in the true sense of the Shariah finance are just like any other Abdi and Farah. They lack the quantitative skills needed to innovate exotic and funky structures--- then again you might argue since there is an element of uncertianty within the exotic products they would be falling outside the sphere of Shariah compliance. The funny thing is that large number of exotics professionals in the city are of Arab origin (Morrocan, Tunisian, Algerian and Lebenese respectively) but the Islamic Shariah finance is crying for talents. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gordon Gekko Posted July 6, 2007 ^^ Very interesting, what is your advice on how to capitalize on this gap and embark on the road of creating Islamic financial products? Become a quant trader? go into the research side? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Khayr Posted July 6, 2007 Ahhh, the business of "playing monopoly" wherein the rich get richer and escape regulation... Cayman Islands anyone? Sophist, Are you a Commercial Barrister? Islam and Hedge funds don't go together. Making money out of nothing aka out of "Risk managment" is akin to interest. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sophist Posted July 6, 2007 Master in Stochastics and PDE then try your luck with on the established ED Trading platforms-- may be SocGen or Deutsche; both are leading houses in this area. Deutsche Equity Derivatives is headed up globally by a Algerian brother Yassin Bouhara and Socete Generale has a very high number of Arabs in their platform; actually the guy who invented Himilayan is a North African chap. Kheyr: I dont do lawyering anymore brother! I work for a Strategic Consulting firm; working on their Derivatives solutions franchise. Risk Management is an art! I dont know who it is akin to Interest; perhaps explain if you may Insha Allah. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sophist Posted July 6, 2007 "Knowledge raises the low, but ignorance brings down the mighty" interesting qoute! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
-Nomadique- Posted July 6, 2007 ^Yes, I thought so too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gordon Gekko Posted July 6, 2007 Sophist, would you recommend an Msc in Applicable Mathematics from LSE as complimentary to cover up for a less quantitative undergrad programme (in order to break into this industry)? I've become quite uninterested of Corp. Finance/IBD lately and more interested in the trading/sales departement of an ibank. Here is the course outline and these can be combined with courses such as Stochastic Processes and Derivatives : Compulsory courses Algorithms and Computation Plus one or more of: Game Theory Discrete Mathematics and Complexity Games of Incomplete Information Options Mathematics Probability and Measure Continuous-Time Optimisation Computational Learning Theory and Neural Networks Information, Communication and Cryptography Functional Analysis and its Applications Sophist would you recommend an Msc in Applicable Mathematics from LSE as complimentary to cover up for a less quantitative undergrad programme (in order to break into this industry)? I've become quite uninterested of Corp. Finance/IBD lately and more interested in the trading/sales departement of an ibank. Here is the course outline and these can be combined with Stochastic Processes, Derivatives : Compulsory courses Algorithms and Computation Plus one or more of: Game Theory Discrete Mathematics and Complexity Games of Incomplete Information Options Mathematics Probability and Measure Continuous-Time Optimisation Computational Learning Theory and Neural Networks Information, Communication and Cryptography Functional Analysis and its Applications http://www.lse.ac.uk/resources/graduateProspectus2007/taughtProgrammes/MScApplicableMathematics.htm Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Allamagan Posted July 6, 2007 I once read in a magazine an interesting article about this hedge funds thing and how some young Londoners make BIG money out of this by charging at least more than 20% of gross returns as a performance & management fee but again the regarded managers demanding higher fees than others. All these as non taxable income Below is very interesting story about one of these guys. Take the Hedge-Fund Money and Run He built an $80 million investment business, scammed friends, family, and a 9/11 widow out of a fortune, then walked out of his life. By Robert Kolker "....He was a college dropout with one year of experience on Wall Street who built an $80 million hedge fund out of nothing in just four years. Few conducted their schemes quite as audaciously: Angelo must be the only con man to have taken money from his sister, his in-laws, and the widow of a firefighter who died on 9/11. And once his fund proved to be nothing more than a glorified Ponzi scheme, Angelo joined an even more rarefied club: the select few who, shortly before sentencing, pull a vanishing act. Wherever he is now—and the manhunt continues—the federal marshals assigned to his case believe he has enough money stowed away to stay there for some time. What no one knows is what turned a bright kid from Queens into one of Wall Street’s most notorious grifters. And why, when he got busted, he risked even more and ran." read more.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Gordon Gekko Posted July 6, 2007 ^^ Looks like he faired pretty well before he started to cook his books. Greed is only good within some boundaries, anything outside of those lines means straight to the abyss. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sophist Posted July 7, 2007 GG, I think your best best would be (if you can hack it) is to take the Finanacial maths MSc at Imperial or Cambridge. It will be a almost a granteed ticket into trading or structuring role within the front office-- unless you are mathsy then they might put you in more or developer role within the research and quantiative paltforms. The above MSc looks okay too. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Sophist Posted July 7, 2007 Typical CV in trading or Structuring looks like. Look at the Zack's (this is my mate's resume)skill set-- maths and technology wise. WORK EXPERIENCE From Jan2005 (9 months) BNP Paribas ,London The Retail Platform Team, Structuring and Market-Making • Market-making for credit, interest rate, inflation ,equity, forex , commodity and hybrid structured investments: notes,swaps,options. • Real-Time quotation and pricing levels for the Primary Market. • Structuring new products as benchmarks for the distributors. • Identifying products sensitivities for Interpolation needs. Nov2003-Dec2004 (13 months) BNP Paribas ,London Exotic Credit Derivatives, Trading Support. • Day-to-day risk management, P&L explain. • Risk tools enhancements (Recovery Risk, Correlation Reserve) • Pricing of contingent structures (Inflation linked CDO/CDO^2 , FTD FX linked , Hybrids products). • Book position: Scenario Analysis with different pricing models. Feb-Nov. 2003 (10 months) BNP Paribas ,London Flow Credit Derivatives, Trading Support. • Risk Management tool : Credit, Interest Rate, Liquidity and Basis risk calculations • CDS Pricer enhancements and developments (historical analysis, regression analysis, restructuring mode migration). • Ratings analysis for the overall book position. • Generic Credit Index Pricer : pricing using non arbitrage formulas, dispersion analysis, regression analysis, sensitivity to single name default. April – Oct 2002 (6 months) BNP Paribas Arbitrage, Paris. Equity Derivatives Desk. • Day-to-day risk management, P&L explain • Delta Hedging for the Equity-Swap book. • Regression analysis for the dividend yield. March - Sept 2001 (6 months) KPMG Strategic Risk Management, Paris. • Quantitative analyst : Implementing a Merton-Type Model. • Credit Risk calculation using the IRB approach. April - Sept. 2000 (6 months) BNP Paribas Arbitrage, Paris. Trader Assistant on Equity Derivatives: Volatility Arbitrage Desk. • Basket and Index Dispersion: calculation and analysis Jan-June 1999 (6 months) BNP Madrid. • Electronic Banking: managing cross-border payment systems. • Data processing department: developer. EDUCATION 2001 - 2002 University of PARIS IX – DAUPHINE , DESS 203 Master of Science « Security Markets, Commodity Markets and Risk Management » www.dess203.com 1997 - 2001 Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines , Saint-Etienne Master of Science in Financial Engineering www.emse.fr 1994 - 1997 Lycée Stanislas, Paris. Preparatory classes 1994 Baccalauréat C – Sciences. LANGUAGES French, Arabic, English Fluent Spanish Good level. OTHER QUALIFICATIONS AND INTERESTS June 2005 FSA Registred 2002-2003 Part-time PhD at Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Mines – Paris Subject : Archimedean Copulas Software and systems knowledge Very good practice of Windows, Office, UNIX. Bloomberg, Reuters ,Murex, Sophis, MDS. Computer Languages TurboPascal, C , C++ ,VisualBasic, SQL , Cobol. Sports Athletic: June 2001 Academic Regional Vice-Champion in 1500m (3’56) JPMorganChase Challenge: 19’. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
