The Dark Side Of Greed

Wealth, Freedom & Options With Joshua Belanger

This morning someone asked me if I heard about the hedge fund manager who recently committed suicide. I didn't, but I was quickly was able to read the details on CNNMoney. Hedge fund manager Sanjay Valvani was found dead by his wife in an apparent suicide, which was less than a week after he was arrested on insider-trading charges. His fund oversaw $8 billion in assets with the funds primary focus being in health care. That's a good chunk of money under management. Prosecutors alleged he was part of an insider-trading scheme that spanned from 2005 to 2011, which illegally traded on confidential tips about drug approvals. In fact, he supposedly profited nearly $25 million in profits with one of those insider tips. This guy was a smart dude. He received his MBA in 2001 from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and founded his fund in 2005. So what, right? Well, it's sad especially leaving a wife and kids like that and only being 44 years old. Yes, I agree he did a bad thing. I wish he had to face his consequences, which wouldn't be a death sentence. Unfortunately, that's not how this story goes. I like to understand and asked myself, why? What would cause a guy like this to do that? We can debate all the reasons and hell you could be right, but my thought is this. Greed! Yeah, greed! Ego feeds the greed. He graduated from a top tier school, which is a great achievement academically. However, I know for a fact that Duke's MBA program doesn't teach you how market's work or how to be successful in them. Many hedge fund managers have a good looking resume with going to elite schools, but the only thing in this business that matters; are results. I doubt four years after getting his MBA he learned how to be successful managing money; especially 8 billion. It takes times and failure to get to a level of success, which when you're managing money; you don't have. My thought is that he wanted to avoid looking like a failure, which fed into his ego and cornered him into taking the easy way with cheating. I don't have a degree, and I don't think you need one either to be successful in the markets. When I was younger, I realized my local college degree wouldn't compare to a university or Ivy League School. I was lucky enough to make the right decision and start working directly on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to see and learn how markets worked when I was 19 years old. The great thing for you is that you don't need to hand over you money to a smart academic person or need to start working on the floor of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to learn how markets work. That is the reason I wrote my book. It was the book; I wished I had when I first started that provided the exact process it took me a decade to learn. http://www.FearlessInvestingWithOptions.com To your wealth, freedom and options! Joshua Belanger