First of all I need to say I’m sorry for not writing for a few weeks. Business activities have just been a bit out of control. It is not that I have nothing to say; quite the contrary, it is that I have been speaking, attending, viewing and participating in hedge fund events around the globe (and at the same time working to complete a new book). To be blunt although things are just absolutely crazy, it is an exciting time in the hedge fund industry.
As the credit market meltdown continues to take its toll at many Wall Street firms, hedge funds have gone from being blamed for the crisis to just being characterized as an active participant in the problem. Nobody seems to care about hedge funds as long as the top of the fold story in the financial press continues to be about massive write downs, layoffs and the whacking of the people at the top.
Hedge funds are in trouble. Some are in a lot of trouble. Many funds have had a terrible year, many have eked out modest gains and many funds are seeing assets leaving as a result of a lack of faith by investors in their managers. October turned out to be a better month then July, August or September but it was not the stuff that dreams are made of and times continue to be tough in the hedge fund world.
And while investors continue to sit on their hands and stay away from making investments in funds, it seems that come the first quarter of 2008, assets are going to flow freely to hedge funds. Look out world here they come. I believe that over the first six months of 2008, we’re going to see an enormous number of new funds start up and this trend will continue well into 2009; and hopefully to 2010.
Right now with $100 oil and $800 gold, the investors and managers are scared out of their minds and that can only mean one thing – the shuffling of the deck. The deck in this case is investments at funds. What does this mean for you – the would be hedge fund manager? It means you need to get into the game. Get the documents into production, open a prime brokerage account, hire and auditor and start collecting assets. It’s your time to take advantage of these opportunities. It’s time to get stuff done – so get up the courage and do it.
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