The Man Who Made $3.5 Billion Last Year

[Genx87]

So I take it that money is under his mattress or something? I always though it might be in a bank or something. That way at least the money could be used by banks to give loans to growing businesses while earning the owner interest. But the mattress story sounds more plausible.

No no he has a giant vault with gold coins he goes swimming in every day. It is the only logical thing a smart guy making 3.5 billion would do. Lose 105 million to inflation and potentially get robbed.

 

[realibrad]

Exactly. None of it contributing towards job creation or society.

Just another $10 billion squirreled away by the rich sapping the U.S. into oblivion.

Perhaps you don't know what you are talking about. See, a Hedge Fund is not magic. You cant poor your money into it, and just get money out. Real measurable things are going on.

Investors pool their money together, and give it to a Hedge Fund. The Hedge Fund then INVESTS the money. The thing that got the investment then does what it needed to do, and if society likes it, they make a profit. If you make a profit, the Hedge Fund gets a positive return. If the Hedge Fund Invests in something that is NOT profitable, the Hedge Fund loses money.

If this guy made money, its likely due to him moving capital to things that make money. Those things were likely wanted by society, because they spent money.

You can try to make a subjective argument on the investments and if they are "good" or "bad" but that would mainly be an opinion. If you want jobs created, it likely was do to expansion due to the investment that the Hedge did.

My guess is that you did not look at what this Hedge Fund did, and the good that could have come from it. Maybe the Hedge invested in a bank that lent money to the poor to help them escape poverty. Maybe they invested in medical research that could save millions. You don't know, but all you see are large numbers that you don't understand.

 

[moonbogg]

Its lying over there, wiggling around (the fuck I do not give)

 

[CPA]

So what jobs has this guy created with all that money?

I bet none and the money sits in overseas accounts untaxed by the U.S.

Hey, you know who else was a hedge fund manager and made billions, in fact, basically crushed the British banks? Your favorite Socialist Liberal, George Soros. he made $1B on the backs of the british people. Where was your thread on his work?

 

[Apple Of Sodom]

One of Warren Buffett's better known quotes is:

Be fearful when others are greedy, and be greedy when others are fearful.

I'm not sure if you were trying to say something about greed and fear, but this quote has to do with his investing strategy. Basically, Buffett realized that price stocks are linked to perception and fears more than anything else. When people are greedy and buy up stock it drives prices artificially high. When people get scared and dump stock it drives them low. Be greedy and get that stock when it is at a low instead of buying when everyone else is.

I did this with BP. Oil spill, fearful, people dumped stock and I jumped in at a couple bucks a share. Same with Bank of America.

 

[rudder]

No no he has a giant vault with gold coins he goes swimming in every day. It is the only logical thing a smart guy making 3.5 billion would do. Lose 105 million to inflation and potentially get robbed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPX5mRSQ3pw

 

[senseamp]

Don't care that he made that much, do care that he paid a carried interest capital gains rate instead of income tax rate, on other people's capital.

 

[Genx87]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPX5mRSQ3pw

That is exactly what I was thinking when writing my reply.

But looking back on it Scrooge was a damned idiot storing all that gold in a personal vault.

 

[Zaap]

Be greedy and get that stock when it is at a low instead of buying when everyone else is.

I did this with BP. Oil spill, fearful, people dumped stock and I jumped in at a couple bucks a share. Same with Bank of America.

Its so basic, and yet the average person has a hard time figuring this out. I won't even say "smart" investors figure this out and make fortunes... it doesn't even take smarts. Just REAL investors figure this out and make fortunes... most people just play-trade.

When the markets are down... I always see the play traders get all bummed. They're too busy chasing non-existent "profits" they never even had, bummed that a stock price is "low" rather than high, not grasping that in reality they've lost nothing unless they cash out... but their "gains" when the price was high were nothing as well.

So the people interested in REAL money are happy as pigs in shit... buying the fuck out of everything in sight. The play-traders are all bummed, sitting around lamenting their make-believe "losses" not even thinking that NOW is the time to buy, not when everything as "hot".

Its like an exercise in human nature and a basic logic test all rolled into one.

The best years ever for real investors were the worst for the play-traders. 1987. 2001. 2009.

Just go look at virtually any stock in 2009... what a gift that year was to anyone with investing sense. The play-traders were all whining... meanwhile the investors couldn't look anywhere without seeing pure gold just laying around for the taking. Every time you turned around... an auto giant like Ford... $2 a share! A blind nitwit with McOwned syndrome could have seen that was a ridiculous opportunity to make a car-carrier load of cash. The entire casino industry in Vegas... in the toilet. Money just laying there screaming "pick me up!!!" No matter how bad it got in the moment, just about anyone could figure out that the big players like MGM were going to recover past penny stock status... BUY that shit, dumbass!

Even Apple was a steal. Go look at the price in '09 vs now. Now kick yourself if you weren't in on it, and worse, were too busy crying over phantom "losses".

We should all be so lucky to have enough of these flipping obvious as a heart attack downturns to make all of our money in, but it amazes me how right in the heart of them most can't see it for what a gift it is. But then... that's life. Many would rather just whine at someone else for being able to figure out the obvious.

Of course some giant hedge fund manager made a shit ton of money after 2009. A blind monkey could have in that market. On auto pilot virtually anyone could have turned 3 or 4 bill into 10-15 bill.

 

[Genx87]

Yeah my biggest regret in 09 was not having more money to plow into the market.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Wow, you really are clueless as to how the economy works.

How the economy works? Heads you lose, tails I win.
Millions of hard working families invest their savings in hope of a reward, investment experts and insider traders skim off as much as they can get. Investment average return is 6%, but over 90% lose their money, 5% come out even and the rest collect millions or billions.

 

[werepossum]

Don't care that he made that much, do care that he paid a carried interest capital gains rate instead of income tax rate, on other people's capital.

This.

 

[PricklyPete]

Yeah my biggest regret in 09 was not having more money to plow into the market.

This.

 

[WHAMPOM]

Its so basic, and yet the average person has a hard time figuring this out. I won't even say "smart" investors figure this out and make fortunes... it doesn't even take smarts. Just REAL investors figure this out and make fortunes... most people just play-trade.

When the markets are down... I always see the play traders get all bummed. They're too busy chasing non-existent "profits" they never even had, bummed that a stock price is "low" rather than high, not grasping that in reality they've lost nothing unless they cash out... but their "gains" when the price was high were nothing as well.

So the people interested in REAL money are happy as pigs in shit... buying the fuck out of everything in sight. The play-traders are all bummed, sitting around lamenting their make-believe "losses" not even thinking that NOW is the time to buy, not when everything as "hot".

Its like an exercise in human nature and a basic logic test all rolled into one.

The best years ever for real investors were the worst for the play-traders. 1987. 2001. 2009.

Just go look at virtually any stock in 2009... what a gift that year was to anyone with investing sense. The play-traders were all whining... meanwhile the investors couldn't look anywhere without seeing pure gold just laying around for the taking. Every time you turned around... an auto giant like Ford... $2 a share! A blind nitwit with McOwned syndrome could have seen that was a ridiculous opportunity to make a car-carrier load of cash. The entire casino industry in Vegas... in the toilet. Money just laying there screaming "pick me up!!!" No matter how bad it got in the moment, just about anyone could figure out that the big players like MGM were going to recover past penny stock status... BUY that shit, dumbass!

Even Apple was a steal. Go look at the price in '09 vs now. Now kick yourself if you weren't in on it, and worse, were too busy crying over phantom "losses".

We should all be so lucky to have enough of these flipping obvious as a heart attack downturns to make all of our money in, but it amazes me how right in the heart of them most can't see it for what a gift it is. But then... that's life. Many would rather just whine at someone else for being able to figure out the obvious.

Of course some giant hedge fund manager made a shit ton of money after 2009. A blind monkey could have in that market. On auto pilot virtually anyone could have turned 3 or 4 bill into 10-15 bill.

It takes a lot to fight the instinctual reaction, "Look how much this stock has gone up! We better buy some!" People buy stocks like they play poker, go all in on a large pot, but never on a small one.

 

[Thebobo]

So what jobs has this guy created with all that money?

I bet none and the money sits in overseas accounts untaxed by the U.S.

Consumers are the job creators.

 

[gotsmack]

Yea, but a lot of these companies were in a very real possibility of going under. How many people lost their shirts buying Lehman Brothers?

Apple could have just as easily disappeared all those years ago when Steve Jobs came back.

 

[realibrad]

Consumers are the job creators.

No.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

No.

Ultimately yes.

 

[realibrad]

Ultimately yes.

Ultimately No.

You have consumers, producers, and entrepreneurs.

Consumers demand, but it takes an entrepreneur to see that demand, and organize production.

You cannot have 1 without the other.

Consumers did not ask for the Iphone, the entrepreneur Steve Jobs got producers to make something the consumers did not even know they wanted.

Trying to say that because consumers are the end result is not Ultimately, because you need to value each step.

 

[IndyColtsFan]

Don't care that he made that much, do care that he paid a carried interest capital gains rate instead of income tax rate, on other people's capital.

Yep, I have to agree with this.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Ultimately No.

You have consumers, producers, and entrepreneurs.

Consumers demand, but it takes an entrepreneur to see that demand, and organize production.

You cannot have 1 without the other.

Consumers did not ask for the Iphone, the entrepreneur Steve Jobs got producers to make something the consumers did not even know they wanted.

Trying to say that because consumers are the end result is not Ultimately, because you need to value each step.

There's a transaction which occurs. If Steve Jobs sold the idea of the iPhone it was consumers which enabled him to do so. If you have people willing to buy then you can make money. If not then you don't. Money provides opportunity. What is the value of losing money m

 

[Zaap]

Yea, but a lot of these companies were in a very real possibility of going under. How many people lost their shirts buying Lehman Brothers?

The banking meltdown was largely 2008. The market downturn followed that.

Also, I remember at the time that the news of toxic loans and mortgage bubble bursting (which really was pretty obvious to all even a year or more before) by the time the big banks were on verge of failing it was pretty clear that they weren't anything to be dumping your money into.

Apple could have just as easily disappeared all those years ago when Steve Jobs came back.

Apple in 1998 was a bit of a long shot- but I always stuck with them because their fan base is such that they'll probably never let the brand die. Few other companies have such rabid support and fan base. You can litterally bank on the fans. Apple in 2009 was such a no brainer its not even funny. They were in the middle of the greatest tech revolution since the start of personal computing. (iPhones, iPods, just around the corner from the iPad.) It was insanity to assume they were going under anytime soon... the market drop was a gift to be able to buy large numbers of shares and then watch each share skyrocket as the market came back to levels of sanity again.

I know they say hindsight is 20/20 but 2009 was a pretty easy year to predict. Big turn arounds in politics usually shake things up, and Obama's election was a pretty big shake up. The signs of collapse were there for a long time for anyone paying attention, so a lot of investors were reading the signs and getting prepared. The correction just turned out to be more dramatic than anyone hoped for.

The smart money plays the game in 5 year cycles. Trying to see major returns in anything less than 5 years is play-trading IMO. Buying low and smart with money you can afford to send out to work for you for at least 5 years is what really pays off. Also, gotta keep it diversified. If someone did lose a pile on banks in 2008 they should have made it up with counter-investments in other sectors.

By the way, speaking of Apple... its a pretty good bet a big money making opportunity is about to happen again. We're two weeks out from a 7 way split....that will take the share price to around $85. I'm betting many people won't be thinking of the increased volume, they'll just be thinking "Apple is cheap at less than $100 per share!" and start snapping it up. Personally I don't think Apple will remain below $100 per share for very long at any volume. I could be wrong. Once again, I'm betting I'm not. How many bets have I lost on Apple? I want a dime for ever time some naysayers told me to bet against Apple and they were wrong.

 

[realibrad]

There's a transaction which occurs. If Steve Jobs sold the idea of the iPhone it was consumers which enabled him to do so. If you have people willing to buy then you can make money. If not then you don't. Money provides opportunity. What is the value of losing money m

Wanting things is inherent to being a person. I want food, water ect, so people dont create want, they are want.

Consumers dont enable Steve to create a product. Creating a product takes risk. Consumers do not create risk.

People wanting things does not mean there is a profit to be made. Many people would love to have a private jet, but the cost of the jet is such that it prices itself out of those consumers hands.

Consumers will always want, but its producers and those who come up with the Ideas that make the world move. Its because entrepreneurs are the ones who change things. Without entrepreneurs we would be in the stone age. We all want, but entrepreneurs get it started.

 

[Zaap]

Wanting things is inherent to being a person. I want food, water ect, so people dont create want, they are want.

Consumers dont enable Steve to create a product. Creating a product takes risk. Consumers do not create risk.

People wanting things does not mean there is a profit to be made. Many people would love to have a private jet, but the cost of the jet is such that it prices itself out of those consumers hands.

Consumers will always want, but its producers and those who come up with the Ideas that make the world move. Its because entrepreneurs are the ones who change things. Without entrepreneurs we would be in the stone age. We all want, but entrepreneurs get it started.

Though it is a two way street, I think your argument is the more correct one.

I think so because there are plenty of places in the world one can go to rich on potential consumers all standing around wanting things. But with no climate for businesses to thrive and flourish, jobs and affordable products don't just come raining out of the sky just because people want them. People should read up those studies of how many hours it takes people in different parts of the world to be able to buy something basic, like a bar of soap. Then ramp it up to luxuries like an automobile and see how insane the chart gets. Those things come to us not out of want, but a proper business climate that makes them affordable. Or do people really think a third worlder doesn't want an iPhone and a nice car as much as they do?

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Though it is a two way street, I think your argument is the more correct one.

I think so because there are plenty of places in the world one can go to rich on potential consumers all standing around wanting things. But with no climate for businesses to thrive and flourish, jobs and affordable products don't just come raining out of the sky just because people want them. People should read up those studies of how many hours it takes people in different parts of the world to be able to buy something basic, like a bar of soap. Then ramp it up to luxuries like an automobile and see how insane the chart gets. Those things come to us not out of want, but a proper business climate that makes them affordable. Or do people really think a third worlder doesn't want an iPhone and a nice car as much as they do?

Well I don't entirely buy into the whole idea of consumerism as automatically good, but people are susceptible to marketing. I suggest looking at how consumer debt has increased over time to where one is effectively a slave to stuff. My kids didn't get a cell phone until there was a need that justified the expense, but those in second grade had service their parents couldn't afford for the sake of status. I think we need to take a hard look at what we think we have to have to. A perpetual need for more isn't healthy as I see things. As Lord Henry in "the picture of dorian gray" said "nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing"