The Hedge Fund Book: A Monkey's Review
“You know what I want? One day, to be on the other end of that phone.”
“You got it Buddy—where the real cheesecake is.” – Wall Street
The movie glosses over this entirely, but if you want to be the hedge fund manager or private equity big shot on the other end of the phone, you’ve got to understand what it takes to run a hedge fund on a day-to-day basis—and not just from the manager’s chair.
That’s right, monkeys. It ain’t just about picking a trading strategy, beating the S&P500 and making plans for what yacht you’re going to buy with your first performance fee.
There were some pretty good, well-thought-out responses to “What kind of hedge fund would you start?” last week, but how many of you know how much it costs to set up an independent board of directors for your fund? How long should your Powerpoint presentation be when pitching to new clients and raising capital? What resources are available for connecting start-up hedge funds with potential seed money? Which criteria should be used when choosing service providers? What activities do you want to outsource, and which operations do you want to keep in house? How do you prepare for an audit, both internally and externally?
“The Hedge Fund Book” takes all that nitty-gritty, operational, back-office stuff that a lot of us would prefer not to think about from our fantasy top-floor office and condenses a lot of it into less than 200 pages. A lot of monkeys on this site have their sights set on managing their own hedge fund, which is a highly-sought after job for a reason. But as we all know, anything entrepreneurial is a big risk, and running a hedge fund is in some ways even more challenging than running a small business. Even if running your own shop isn’t your goal, it’s still worth a read to gain a more granular look at the industry behind all different types of funds.
It’s also pretty easy to study, given chapter-by-chapter summaries, questions, and links to other resources and video content for continuing education.
If you had to summarize the most important lesson in “The Hedge Fund Book,” you can’t go wrong with the introductory quote to Chapter 2:
“There are three ways to raise capital: having more high net worth friends than the next fund manager, landing early institutional allocations, or hard work. Get to work.”
Read up, monkeys!
Monkey’s Review 1: Barbarians At the Gate
Monkey’s Review 2: The Financier
Monkey’s Review 3: Decision Points
Monkey’s Review 4: Debunkery
Monkey’s Review 5: When Genius Failed
Monkey’s Review 6: Monkey Business
Monkey’s Review 7: Death Of The Banker
Monkey’s Review 8: A Journey
Monkey’s Review 9: Damn It Feels Good To Be A Banker
Monkey’s Review 10: The Quants
Monkey’s Review 11: All About Hedge Funds
Monkey’s Review 12: The Unlikely Disciple
Monkey’s Review 13: Adventure Capitalist
Monkey’s Review 14: The Hedge Fund Book
Monkey’s Review 15: Investing In Hedge Fund of Funds
Monkey’s Review 16: Hilarity Ensues
Monkey’s Review 17: The Prince
Monkey’s Review 18: Markets Never Forget (But People Do)
Monkey’s Review 19: The Money Culture






Comments
Nice review as always, I just
Nice review as always, I just bought "Fooling Some of the People All of the Time: A Long Short Story". I strongly recommend it. Very easy to read.
|| But feeling good and enjoying life are prerequisites to success, not by products of it- Midas Mulligan Magoo ||
Great job. Thanks for taking
Great job. Thanks for taking the time to write a review.
"I am the hero of the story. I don't need to be saved."