Tag Archives: george soros

Sarcastic Comments on Quotes from the World’s Greatest Hedge Fund Managers and Investors

Here is a great collection of quotes (with my sarcastic comments) from some of the world’s greatest investors at Addicted2Success:

Warren Buffett (Net Worth $39 Billion) – “‘Price is what you pay; value is what you get.’ Whether we’re talking about socks or stocks, I like buying quality merchandise when it is marked down.” [But a tax payer funded bailout like in 2008 doesn’t hurt.]

George Soros (Net Worth $22 Billion) - ”I’m only rich because I know when I’m wrong…I basically have survived by recognizing my mistakes.” [And Soros is wrong a lot, his win rate is something like 30%. But when he is right, man, he is right. He goes for the jugular as evidenced when he shorted the pound.]

Carl Icahn (Net Worth $13 Billion) – “You learn in this business: If you want a friend, get a dog” [I bet $13 billion buys a very impressive dog.]

Ray Dalio (Net Worth $6.5 Billion) – “More than anything else, what differentiates people who live up to their potential from those who don’t is a willingness to look at themselves and others objectively.” [Okay, but if your potential is 10 out of 100, objectivity might not help you so much.]

Carlos Slim (Net Worth $69 Billion) - “Anyone who is not investing now is missing a tremendous opportunity.” [Um, yeah. An opportunity to watch your wealth get vaporized or an opportunity to make money?]

David Tepper (Net Worth $5 Billion) – “This company looks cheap, that company looks cheap, but the overall economy could completely screw it up. The key is to wait. Sometimes the hardest thing to do is to do nothing.” [At least until the Fed has got your back. BTFD. If there’s good economic news you make money. If there’s bad news, the Fed will ease and you will make money. You can’t lose. At least I think that was his thesis.”

Peter Lynch (Net Worth $352 Million) – “I think you have to learn that there’s a company behind every stock, and that there’s only one real reason why stocks go up. Companies go from doing poorly to doing well or small companies grow to large companies.” [No the Fed printing dollars has nothing to do with stock prices going up. If we were suddenly given $10 for every $1 in our pocket stock prices wouldn’t go up. Stock prices only respond to earnings growth. No sir, nothing else.]

John Templeton (Net Worth $20 Billion)– “The time of maximum pessimism is the best time to buy and the time of maximum optimism is the best time to sell.” [But the real secret is knowing when these times have been reached. If you are a pessimist, things may look bad, but they can always get worse. And if you are an optimist, things may look good, but they can always get better.]

Soros Fund Management Careers

Soros Fund Management Careers have just become much harder to obtain. So unless you really have what it takes, you might want to try other funds like: Two Sigma, D.E. Shaw or Citadel. George Soros has closed the Quantum Fund to outside investors and is going to run it purely as a family office. Furthermore, recent market volatility has prompted Soros to build up a 75% cash position in his hedge fund portfolio. This means he has much less need for portfolio managers, traders, analysts and front, mid and back office staff. So if you want to land a job at Soros Fund Management, you’ll have to be that much more exceptional than the already highly exception people that it already has.

The Exceptional Talent At Soros Fund Management
Some extremely remarkable people have passed through the doors of Soros Fund Management. Names like Jim Rogers, Stanley Druckenmiller and Victor Niederhoffer all come to mind. Jim Rogers made a killing back in the 1980s and retired at a very young age after doing quite well at Soros’ Quantum Fund. Druckenmiller left to start his own firm after working with Soros to put on Quantum’s massive wager against the British Pound that gave Soros the title of the man who broke the Bank of England. Finally, Niederhoffer, traded for Soros for a while but eventually quit while he was ahead. Soros says that Niederhoffer was the only fund manager that ever voluntarily left his firm while in the black.

Thus Soros Fund Management Jobs aren’t easy to come by because that is the bar that you are being judged by. Are you a better analyst than Rogers? Are you a better empiricist and trader than Niederhoffer? Are you a better all around portfolio manager than Druckenmiller, (a man who some feel has the analytical capabilities of Rogers, the killer instinct of Soros, the trading abilities of Niederhoffer and the gut instincts of a riverboat gambler all rolled into one well oiled trading cyborg)?

Incredible Talent Won’t Be Ignored
So if you want to work at the firm of the greatest traders of all time you will have to become so exceptional that you can’t be ignored. To do this, the 10,000 hour rule to become an expert is probably just the start. But if you manage to surmount this obstacle, this high standard, you will be able to land a position at Soros Fund Management, assuming that they are still hiring. But even if they aren’t, if you are able to reach this rarefied plateau, you will be able to succeed at any investment management firm or even start and run your own financial firm successfully.

So what are you waiting for? Are you up for the challenge or will you shy away from it?