Whoever said that my blog is nothing more than a series of posts filled with rants and raves about the hedge fund industry and things that drive me crazy, well, they must have missed a post from June of ’16. In this short but sweet (if I do say so myself) post, I wrote that I was shocked to see so many people wearing fleece vests in the middle of summer – clearly the vest fad was at full steam – and that, along with colored print socks, made me crazy in June 2016.
Well, this week, a mere two years and one month later, <i>The Wall Street Journal</i> is writing about vests and the role this bit of costume is playing in the corporate uniform from Midtown New York to Silicon Valley. Here is a link to my post (hint: Read all the way to the bottom) and here is a link to the story in the WSJ. Could it be that the HEDGEAnswers blog is a news breaker?
I highly doubt it. It’s more likely just a place to read about my rants and raves about hedge funds and things that drive me crazy.
That being said – this week we all learned that Leon Cooperman is hanging it up as a manager of other people’s money and is going to be converting his fund to a family office. Mr. Cooperman walks away with an incredible record of making money for his investors and doing good things with his wealth. Turning funds into family offices is trend that, like the fleece vest, is sweeping the hedge fund industry. Mr. Cooperman is not the first to do this and surely won’t be the last. There are some who say that this trend is a signal that the era of the big hedge fund manager is over. I don’t agree, I think it is a signal that the hedge fund industry is evolving.
It is reasonable that people who have found success want to try something else or simply to enjoy the wealth that they have created. For as many managers who move on to family offices, there are more who will be launching in the months and years ahead. There is always going to be a need for hedge funds in diversified portfolios.
Right now, as some well-known managers have had a hard time putting up numbers and some are converting to family offices or retiring altogether, the industry seems to be going through an inflection point. Hey, as those of us who been around awhile know, this is standard operating procedure for the industry. Hedge funds are here to stay.
Things that drive me crazy
I hate, I mean hate, people who hide behind texting. Recently, an old colleague reached out through a series of texts and finally, after three or four back-and-fourths, I picked up the phone called him. I said, “You’re the head of sales. Why are you afraid to pick up the phone? You don’t have my number?” He had nothing to say. I know that I have written about this before, but it really irks me when people use text to communicate instead of picking up the phone. I also think it is very childish. It’s OK for children but not OK for people over 30. Pick up the phone and make the call. You may actually enjoy it.
