Just What Do Hedge Fund Honchos Do For a Million Bucks an Hour?

[xchrom]

http://www.alternet.org/just-what-do-hedge-fund-honchos-do-million-bucks-hour



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But what do those at the pinnacle of the economic pile – hedge fund managers whose compensation dwarfs that of the best paid corporate CEO – actually do? “A straight answer is hard to come by,” writes Les Leopold in his new book, How to Make a Million Dollars An Hour (Wiley). "Mostly these guys (and yes, they are nearly all guys) keep their efforts hidden from view. Trade secrets and mystical lore shroud their every move. Neither regulators nor the public have any idea how so much money is minted."

AlterNet caught up with Leopold to discuss the new book.

Joshua Holland: Les, congrats on the new book. We hear a lot about CEO pay, but really, it seems that these hedge fund guys are just putting most corporate CEOs to shame. Can you put the kind of spoils these guys are getting into perspective for us?

Les Leopold: Josh, you know this is America, and we are very accustomed to hearing about the rich and famous. To start the book I thought it would be good to take a look at the 10 richest musicians, athletes, movie stars, CEOs, lawyers, doctors, authors and other celebrities, and then compare them with these hedge fund managers. I couldn't believe what I found. Hedge fund managers make up to 100 times more.

For example, while the top movie stars averaged about $21,000 per hour, (which is nothing to sneeze at), the top hedge fund guys averaged a whopping $843,000 per hour. It was a revelation.

[reformist2]

1. And the dirty little secret of fund management is that they don't even beat the market, on average!

Most of the money in our pension plans would be better off invested in boring vanilla stock/bond index funds, rather than being actively managed by fund managers. Or worse, farmed out to hedge fund managers who promise - but can't deliver - better long-term returns.

[KG]

2. the true american parasite class...

[TomClash]

3. Employ workers who gamble for them

Except they are usually the House.

[Scuba]

4. It's pretty simple. They gamble with pension funds and other accounts of someone else's money...

When they win, they take a nice cut.

When they lose, the fund suffers all the losses.

[KharmaTrain]

5. Fund Managers Also Work On Commission...

...getting their fee from a percentage (1 or 2%) of the portfolio value. So if they do well and the fund increases in value their commissions increase accordingly...if they pick a loser and the fund falls, their take also goes down. I'd avoid any broker who had set fees...or makes their money off transactions (common in many funds). Unfortunately members in a pension funds have little say on who controls those funds or who they're invested with and thus those who handle the money are removed from those who the money really belongs to...and that's where the gambling games begin...