Are financial models even important?

As George Soros once said in his book The Alchemy of Finance, "It is better to use no model than a faulty model". Lets face it, most models are wrong and their projections are usually off. Especially in the multi manager model which is short-term and speculative, how does building financial models even help there. In the short term stocks are based off of what the market participants think the company is going to do in the future so what is even the point of building financial models in this type of role, wouldn't it be much better to use your time trying to figure out what other people in the market are going to do next?

17 Comments
 

Your initial point was very good that why wouldn't they just focus on what other participants are thinking, and they do. But it's also single name stock trading, so need to put together numbers out to know what's priced in and what's not.

Also shorter-term funds hire ppl from IB/PE background so it's naturally part of their DNA to model the crap out of things as part of the thought process. 

PM's PM thinks in numbers too, so I wouldn't expect a PM to be changing the process until he/she changes dramatically to become a long-term wide-moat concentrated investor where a lot more time devoted on the business and the softer stuff. 

 
Most Helpful

Sit vero totam molestiae ducimus ex eum molestiae. Facilis quis ratione rerum quod animi. Laboriosam provident quasi et enim voluptas dolorem. Unde est dolorum rerum. Dolores odit qui perspiciatis exercitationem.

Et laboriosam et ducimus commodi et nostrum temporibus. Dicta quidem veniam eum minima. Modi est nisi repudiandae autem fugiat laborum minima. Architecto rerum ut nemo voluptatum. Praesentium ut autem id aut numquam. Quaerat non et fugit vel deserunt.

Career Advancement Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 97.1%
  • AQR Capital Management 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.2%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • Millennium Partners 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Blackstone Group 96.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 95.1%

Professional Growth Opportunities

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.1%
  • Point72 98.1%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.2%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.2%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.3%

Total Avg Compensation

June 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $423
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (86) $288
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $192
  • Analysts (240) $181
  • Intern/Summer Associate (28) $146
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (282) $96
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
7
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
8
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
9
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
10
Jamoldo's picture
Jamoldo
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”