If you feel you aren’t making enough money, this won’t help: The top 25 hedge fund managers in the world earned a total of $16.8 billion last year, and you’ve probably never even heard of them.
The Top 5 earned a combined $7.6 billion in 2017.
They haven’t made this much money since 2013, and chances are they won’t this year, either—but the 2017 list is impressive nonetheless, even if for its lack of diversity on a number of levels.
You won’t find any spring chickens at the top of list, or even near the bottom. The youngest face that made the cut was 42—so this still isn’t a game for Millennials. This exclusive ‘boys’ club, is only for the middle aged and elderly.
You won’t find any women, either.
And the big names you might have heard of before, like George Soros, David Siegel and Paul Singer, are languishing near the bottom. Soros came in at number 20, Siegel at 16 and Singer at 11.
There’s also not any diversity in terms of nationality, unless you count one Norwegian among them, residing in the US, and one UK national living in Switzerland. It’s pretty much all American, all the way—sort of: It’s worth noting that Number One on the list isn’t actually American.
Here are the Top 5 in terms of personal earnings from the latest Forbes ranking:
#1 Michael Platt, BlueCrest Capital Management
At the age of 49, Platt—a British citizen living in Geneva, Switzerland--is the only one on the list to hit the multi-billion-dollar mark. Related: The Blockchain Boom Hits The Utilities Sector
He’s the co-founder of BlueCrest Capital Management, which managed to earn an astounding 54 percent net return on capital last year. That, in turn, earned Platt $2 billion personally. But his real-time net worth, according to Forbes, is $6.5 billion.
#2 James Simons, Renaissance Technologies
Ranking high for the elderly club, Simmons, 79, is the founder of Renaissance Technologies and earned a personal $1.8 billion in 2017. He’s worth $20 billion in real time, so he’s likely not begrudging Platt’s first place for 2017 earnings.
#3 David Tepper, Appaloosa Management
Tepper came in third for $1.5 billion in personal earnings last year. Tepper, whom Forbes describes as “arguably the greatest hedge fund manager of his generation” (he’s 60), is worth $11 billion in real time.
#4 Ken Griffin, Citadel LLC
Griffin also owns major market maker Citadel Securities, and his Citadel LLC saw a 13.1-percent return net of fees in 2017.
Griffin, 49, personally earned $1.4 billion last year, and his real-time net worth is $9 billion. He’s been more than resourceful, says Forbes. He started trading in 1987 from his dorm at Harvard by putting a satellite dish on the roof for real-time stock quotes.
#5 Ray Dalio, Bridgewater Associates
Ray Dalio, the last on our top five, made only $900 million, failing to break the billion-dollar wall that crushed by the top 4. That blow is eased by the fact that his real-time net worth is $17.4 billion. It also helps that Bridgewater is the biggest hedge fund firm in the world, managing $160 billion in assets.
By Tom Kool for Safehaven.com
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