I am sick and tired of reading about the death of the hedge fund industry in the popular press. It is almost as bad as reading how bad a job President Trump is doing. Although anti-Trump articles trump the death of hedge funds for sure. What I don’t understand is why do people write these stories? Is it news that a manager did poorly? Or that they failed to live up their expectations. I get that many who write about hedge funds are jealous of the money earned by those who work in the industry. They remind of Fredo’s comment to Michael about being smart. Or better yet Shaw’s maxim: “he who can does; he who cannot teaches”.
Well enough already. The time has come to say no more. To be clear the hedge fund industry is not dead. It is going through a very interesting period one in which many managers are learning that they cannot actually manage money – they should head back to the mutual fund industry – the home of closet indexers and many managers are learning that they can manage money and are doing well despite the political and economic uncertainty that is gripping the globe at the moment. The truth is as I have said time and again and more importantly smarter people then me have said; is that markets don’t always rise and such it is important to have investment products that make money regardless of which way the market is moving. It is not about simply adding bonds to a portfolio. It is about having all the arrows in one’s quiver to make money in the markets. Hedge funds in their truest form do just that and as such investors and the markets need them. I get that people like complaining. It is easy to do and does not take a lot of effort. However, in this case, it is just noise and noise that is not worth listening too.
Another note, I am pleased to tell you that the CDDA exam has been completed and registration is open. To learn more about obtaining this designation and the IMDDA go to www.imdaa.org.
I am also glad to see that SALT is back this year. The line-up looks great and should be a good time. Mr. Scaramucci and his colleagues always seem to bring together the best and brightest – I expect this year to be no different.
Things that drive me crazy
I have no idea how airlines price their fares. I do know that most airlines complain that they can’t make money and seem to be nickel and diming travelers to death with costs for everything from oxygen to toilet paper. Recently, I booked a trip from sunny Florida to Los Angeles – cost was about $350.00 per person roundtrip. Later that same day – same airline – won’t say which one but it rhymes wet hue – I booked a trip from sunny Florida to New York’s LaGuardia airport cost $425.00. One flight is just under six hours while the other is just shy of three hours and the shorter one costs more -this is nuts, does not make sense and frankly ridiculous.