$50mm net worth

Hear a lot of HF analysts talk about $50 as their "target" or number. how achievable is this? by what age - 35, 40, 45 and what % of incoming analyst you think hit that number? 

Similarly, what do you think most people have saved by the time they hit PM promotion? My hunch is $5-10mm 

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At the top SM funds(think viking, LP,TGM,PS) there are many analysts that are early 30s that have a net worth of 50mm or more. No clue about pod shops though 

Can you kindly fuck off with this BS? That is not and never has been the case even during the heyday of this industry.

"If you don't have any enemies in life you have never stood up for anything" - Winston Churchill | "It's a testament to the sheer belligerence of the profession that people would rather argue about the 'risk-adjusted returns' of using inferior tooth cleaning methods." - kellycriterion
 
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In order to have $50M in wealth, you'd have to consume nothing and earn approximately $100M in pre-tax income, which is about $500M in pure alpha at the fund level. Most PMs get started at ~ age 30. About 50% fail. Another 40% can grind out $5-25M of PnL/year which equals maybe $1-5M/year in pre-tax income. maybe the top 10% can have a realistic chance of succeeding to the point where they can save $50M one day. 

As a lifetime super senior analyst who has no PnL attribution, you can realistically earn ~$1M per year averaged over time. After consumption and debt, a typical junior analyst might save $500-1000k by the time he makes PM. 

I think your mentality of trying to accumulate $50M of FU money is not right. You need to realize that once you can support your annual consumption (food, rent,  beer etc.) thru a decade of unemployment, you've basically already achieved full financial freedom. Realistically if you can make it that far, you will never experience such a long period of unemployment ever. If I fail as a PM I can just get busted back to analyst and still earn $300-500k/year. If I fail somehow at that, I can become a software engineer and make $250k/year quite easily. With a measly $1M banked, I can't starve; I can afford to sacrifice $100k/year in income for lifestyle balance.

 

How do yall work in the hedge fund industry and not realize that your personal wealth can compound as well? If you can invest your personal wealth in the fund, often pre-fees, and they compound at 15-18% gross it’s a much different equation than the 100mn pre tax income everyone has come to. Obviously still impossible, not sure where OP and others get this idea from but 100mn pre tax is just not the right way to think about it…

 

1. being allowed to invest in the general is the perk. employees can/do pay fees like any other LP.

2. conditional upon success, your income will grow exponentially, so the return on savings only starts to matter after you stop increasing the size of your book.

3. conditional upon failure, you won't accumulate very much savings. consumption is high, you're looking at a more normal 5-10% rate of return in the stock market, and your income will only increase linearly. 

 

Savings will always compound exponentially, not sure why you think lowering the exponential factor makes it linear lol. Also, not the case on paying fees at my fund, have not heard different from others I know, but thanks for info for the future if I consider jumping ship

 

Employees do not pay fees at any fund I've ever been to. It's different at Citadel and funds like that but for every PE and single manager I've ever heard of, you don't pay fees. The question is whether or not you can get friends & family money in on a fee free basis or not or whether the perk is solely access for them. 

 
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Doesn’t seem that hard to do at a good SM

This is a pretty common path: 2+2 banking / MF PE, then analyst at SM when you are around 26.  First 4 years probably average 1M/yr, so now you’re 30 and this is where it really scales up. 31-33, $3-5M per year, 34 $80M inheritance when grandparents pass, 35 $8M bonus.  This should easily clear $50M all in cumulative net worth.

 
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I don't think $15mm is escape velocity quite. Using the 4% withdrawal rule (have to account for long term inflation of ~2-3%, 60/40 portfolio returns ~5-8% nominally, you can make a more levered bet on the market but now you're introducing more risk of having to get back to work if your portfolio take a 50% haircut), you're talking more like $600k of 2023 USD worth of purchasing power in perpetuity, pre tax / ~$450k post tax. That's okay to run an upper middle class household but you're not exactly scratching every material itch. Don't expect annual international family vacations or a second house or any help really. For a lot of people, that's okay. Depending on your tastes / # of kids / COL of where you live, I think $1mm pre tax / $750k post tax of income is a reasonable goal therefore my walk away number is $25mm, which I think I'll reasonably have by 50 (I'm 30 with a $500k-1mm / year seat and $1mm net worth). 

 

As someone who has been in the industry for a while, working at a solid SM (not PS / Viking caliber), just grinding away throughout the years, I will probably get to $50m by my early 40s.


Do not underestimate the power of compounding, tax optimization, and patiently waiting for the big years.

 

Massive sampling bias in this, but if you are good enough to be a senior analyst/PM, you theoretically are really solid at trading and investing. Most people I know at this level crush the standard 7-10% annual PA return by multiples, or at least, should be able to. 

Not sure if others who are in risk-taking seats feel this way, but with trading restrictions etc, I've always found my entries on the PA side are often pretty epic. I think the two parts of this are: 

1. You have a deep network of good people across tons of different asset classes. If someone whos a star at their sector/asset class is in pain/drawdown, I almost always size into the types of positions they've gotten crushed on. Central risk books ofc do this, but w a bit of smart options plays, you can really crush.

2. If you are solid, its not to contentious to say that making a good call on a 3-6 month+ horizon is pretty easy. The hard job of working at a fund is hitting a target budget while minimizing drawdown and the silly risk params most funds run. If you are high conviction, nobody can stop you out of a PA trade you are down to warehouse, so you can size much easier. My PA can take a 10%+ drawdown on a trade/investment I have high conviction in, but your risk dept will shoulder tap you longggg before that. 

 

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