Friday Feature Book Review: Goldman Sachs: Culture of Success: Lisa Endlich ゴールドマン・サックス: 世界最強の投資銀行 リサ・エンドリック

There is always one firm at the top, and right now, it is Goldman Sachs. How do you get there? Is there a shortcut to success? Can a better competitor adapt and overtake it somehow or someway? If there is a way to dethrone the current king of investment banking, it will not be quick. Marcus Goldman, started the firm in 1869 and was joined by a relative Samuel Sachs, soon after in 1882. With more than 147+ years of experience behind them, it did not come quickly.

There is something different about Goldman bankers that is not shared with other firms. It is one of those things that is known, but never easy to explain. It is partly about a level of client connection, and determination. It is a rare combination that is rewarded more often or more clearly than any rival in the industry. Transactions of note include the IPO of Ford Motor Company in 1956, Richard Branson's Virgin Music, and Ralph Lauren's Polo, all firms that were helped with various dealings. As the client grows, so does the service provider. It is a virtuous circle of success.

The term "partner, as in a Goldman Sachs partner" is a rare thing today that is really the epitome of professional success. It is a badge of determination, dedication and wealth that no other investment bank in the world offers to as many as Goldman Sachs does today. In fact, it gives partnerships to any member in any branch anywhere in the world. It is not only for those who stay in New York City. The current list of partners often reflects where financial markets are growing strongest, by helping clients expand and reach new markets. The competition to become a partner is high, but so are the financial rewards. It is literally worth millions of dollars in compensation annually, but only for the few.

As an example of this new internationalism, top earners at a younger than expected age, were given partnership at overseas branches. Oki Matsumoto, worked for the Japan branch and was one of the very first partners to come the region. He represented what could happen to ambitious staffers in any branch on the globe. Back in 1998, when he was just 35, he made partner. The surprise is that he had joined the firm only 8 years before from Salomon Brothers Asia. The Japan bubble was followed by major steps in the UK and Europe, recently China as well. All have grown local Managing Directors who have become Goldman Sachs partners, the ultimate corporate peak.

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that impact any reader are:

1) Never be in a rush for success. You need to build a solid foundation, before you can grow far and wide. Corporate culture starts with key people. That is how you begin.
2) A great observation is how you can grow a firm based on the clients you serve. Ford Motor Company was small in the beginning, but with help from its investment bank, Goldman Sachs, it grew globally.
3) Winning and losing is very black and white. If you have the capital to take a risk early, do so. You can then learn from mistakes early, pivot and focus on where the true profits can be found. Success is never a straight line.

Since its early international expansion days, many partners from Asia & Japan, have stood out and succeeded.  Many other markets have grown outstanding talent, and have made it to becoming a partner. This firm pays like no other, and this book details so many of the people at its core. The key one who have the drive needed to make it to the very top of finance. If you are a history buff and like finance, this book is for you. highly recommended. Highly Recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
Tokyo                                          Tokyo

      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
Direct + 81 3 3505 3891              Direct + 81 3 3505 3891

Friday Feature Book Review: Empire: How Britain Made The Modern World: by Niall Ferguson 大英帝国の歴史 上 - 膨張への軌跡 (単行本) ニーアル・ファーガソン

How did Britain, a small island nation come to run a global empire with 25% of the world under its control? How could this happen with a small population? It did so by adapting to various opportunities. It was a focused mind set. This is another well researched effort by Niall Ferguson, that brings together great sequences of financial history and global trade. The tale of how this all happened, is well described. It all fits together perfectly like a bespoke suit.

We learn that in the beginning, the UK was little more than a pirate nation attacking Spain. After taking over the island of Jamaica, they grew sugar, the new white gold needed in consumer markets. From this point on, the government coffers began to fill. Luckily, instead of spending, they reinvested much of the profits, and tried to expand well beyond the borders of Europe.

This is a wonderful collection of detail on how the British economy grew. For example, it looked at Holland, and its central and stock exchange, and then merged financial systems under William of Orange. This allowed the government to pay for a navy with private low cost bonds from the public. This even included Nathan Rothschild one of as its key investors. This growth pattern is also how the UK took over India. Despite its 400 million+ population, and a large standing Indian army that defeated the French for world trade domination, the UK prevailed. The author makes clear that business and trade decisions need to be financed. If you don't have that financing, you can't get those deals done. They are 2 sides of the same Empire's coin.

In contrast, if you only follow a king like France, a king that reneges on his debts from time to time, you pay higher interest rates. Higher rates that impact trade decisions France cannot afford. A nation's power is connected to its finances. Cecil Rhodes, famous for his Rhodes scholarship, uses cheap capital from the UK to build railroads in Southern Africa. In many ways, he can be seen as a private mercenary for the UK.  He had no small ego, and was a kind of land pirate if you will, wanting to take over the entire continent of Africa. By bringing the best weapons that money can pay for, and grabbing all real estate possible via military means for private investors, it worked. Much of Africa was taken over as colonies. He even created his own country named after himself, Rhodesia. 

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that impact any reader are:

1) Never be late with your state finances. The interest rate of a nation allows a country to grow and expand with trade. A high interest rate limits future growth.
2) A great observation by the UK on many new concepts was often followed up with quick action. Dutch financial innovation was quickly observed and emulated.
3) Winning and losing is very black and white. If you have the cash to pay for power, then use it. Much of English speaking Africa was due to this power play by the UK and its banking strength. Cash ultimately pays for the bullets.

There are many amazing stories like this across the history of the UK and its trade. They tie together well, and form a very interesting pattern. It shows why the world trades in the way it does, across many borders, especially using the English language. It all started by the UK, and recently extended by the USA. If Global Macro concepts interest you as much as myself, this will delight your mind. Given its color and clear approach to finance and history, this book is Highly Recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
Tokyo                                          Tokyo

      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
Direct + 81 3 3505 3891              Direct + 81 3 3505 3891

Friday Feature Book Review: More Money Than God! (Hedge Fund Kings) by Sebastian Mallaby ヘッジファンド ―投資家たちの野望と興亡: セバスチャン・マラビー

Global hedge funds pay big time bonuses, enough in fact, to become a billionaire. If you want to know the wealth & power around them, then this book is for you. Author Sebastian Mallaby, has amazing access to top-tier hedge fund players. He does some really incredible research into this exclusive"Titans of Finance" style of industry. The names and numbers really made sense and hooked me in. It is from a few years ago when the industry was near its peak, but it still ignites envious bonus envy for the majority of professionals who only dream of only millions, not hundreds of millions come bonus day.

He did not waste my time or my money on this very rich in detail volume, that really gives you a full meal of satisfying insight. This was one of the most in depth books on hedge funds that I have ever come across. The direct quotes and input from the greatest managers of all-time make it work. Their views on many of the biggest trades the world has ever seen, was very educational in its remarkable detail. It is not one man's thoughts. It is one man's great collection of quotes from the traders who have made the big money. Those are the traders I want to hear about, "direct from the gut" from anyway. The author stays out of the way, and allows you to absorb it all. 

You could feel that he not only developed excellent sources, but wished that you could have been there for the many of the conversations. For me, not a single page was drab. Every single line was worth my full attention. The wrap up on the industry in a big picture style worked for me too at the end. The author can really connect the dots perfectly. It many ways, he makes a good case that global investment banks were in fact, hedge fund partnerships themselves, but then got listed on various stock exchanges. A new wave of hedge funds will always come along to make money out of a never ending pattern of continuous market opportunities. Financial markets, like the sea itself, is never static. It is constantly moving in various directions. Crypto markets may be next, for all we know.

The overall bigger picture is easy enough to understand, hedge funds evolve and adapt. The best ones grow and keep the kind of DNA that keeps on tinkering, like any inventor in a garage. They have to keep looking for the next new thing, new market, new strategy, new arbitrage, Bitcoin trade or whatever. Size matters, and institutional investors tend to look for asset size as a kind of comfort with hedge funds. Over time this can be flawed in many ways, but it is still an all too common practice. In a way, you get deja vu and hear that the old line, "nobody got fired for choosing IBM" , it works here too with large size hedge funds. 

On the surface, a very large and well established hedge fund with US$1BN or more in assets, seems safe as an investment. however, the financial size is not really a comfort in the end, as the performance can end quickly. It is the professionals, the real human capital, within any hedge fund that are the real assets being invested into. If the real IP, the brain power that these traders have, can figure out the next new thing in financial markets, then top tier performance follows for all investors. 

Ultimately, any hedge fund once successful, gets big. A few even get listed. and then make way for a newer wave of "Young Turks" to follow with the new new market sensation. Hedge funds really are about finding opportunities and the people behind them. That is where the big money is made, by seeing a new twist or tact, and creating profits by innovation around those new opportunities. These successes often come in waves and that reflect different strategies doing better or worse in different cycles.

The Top 3 Takeaways from this book that impact any reader are:

1) Never be between a central bank making a wrong move and a full conviction hedge fund. Take George Soros and the Bank of England, it did not end well for the UK pound or the BOE. Always best to get out of the way when the big boys bet in size! 
2) A great observation was the comparison of Goldman Sachs when seeing their client Long Term Capital Management failing. It was like " a hyena feeding on a trapped but living antelope"! You gotta love that image of your helpful prime brokerage "partner"!
3) Winning and losing is very black and white. When a dejected trader says " I just want to kill myself" Hedge Fund founder Michael Steinhardt just asks "can I watch?". Such is the overall sympathy from deep within the hedge fund beast. 

The author Sebastian Mallaby takes us on this journey in a very detailed fashion. It is full of the kind of glitz and bling from the big personalities that feel they certainly earned their big bonuses. It all keeps many of these things in a kind of fantasy land for the many others lower down in the financial income scale. At least it keeps your appetite always wanting a little bit more. This was a great read and a great insight in the hedge fund world. This book is Highly Recommended!

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
Tokyo                                          Tokyo

      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
Direct + 81 3 3505 3891              Direct + 81 3 3505 3891

Friday Feature Review: What is a Hedge Fund? TopMoneyJobs Founder Mark Pink ヘッジファンドとは何ですか？ トップマネージョブズの創設者、マーク・ピンクによる

What is a hedge fund really? and how did they actually start?

Hedge funds have been around since 1949. The creator of the modern hedge fund is Alfred Winslow Jones. He started the first one in the USA. He had an interesting background. He was born in Melbourne, Australia on Sept 9, 1900, to American parents. He graduated from Harvard in 1923, and then completed his PhD at Columbia later on. He travelled to Spain during their civil war and shared a bottle of whiskey with Ernest Hemingway. He was rumoured to have worked for the OSS, now the CIA while there.

He was a former US diplomat in Berlin, Germany, and a financial journalist at Fortune magazine in New York. He saw an opportunity to change careers at age 48, and moved into money management in 1949. He raised $100,000 US dollars, including $40,000 dollars of his own, and started a simple long/short strategy. He had skin in the game, 40% in fact. He created a fee structure that was inspired by ancient merchant Phoenician ships 2000+ years ago. It turned out to be a great way to only pay 25% capital gains taxes. The top US tax bracket for high income individuals in 1949 was 91%! Very high indeed.

He bought the best performing stocks, and hoped they would rise in value, and also shorted the worst performing ones hoping they would fall. He also used leverage in order to maximize his performance. He formed a limited partnership to share all profits. It did well and started to charge 20% fees for himself as the managing partner from outside investors based on his positive results. He was able to outperform all mutual funds of the day, and soon afterwards began to be recognized after a 5 year track record. He was profitable in 31 out of 34 years that he ran his "hedged fund" under the name A.W.Jones. He passed away in 1989 at age 88.

Because he combined, both long & short selling, used leverage, and even formed a limited partnership structure, he is now known as the father of the current hedge fund industry. Many new strategies have since developed, and the assets of the industry have grown to more than US$1 Trillion dollars globally. Many hedge funds are now in cities like New York, London, Chicago, San Francisco, Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore, Sydney and even Melbourne, Australia. This is the first of a continuing series by TMJ Partners, creator of TopMoneyJobs.com.

Please visit us for our Friday Feature Review where TMJ Partners will review books, movies, conferences and anything else with a financial theme. Follow us now for our free weekly updates, just click here. Thank you for reading and learning more about how money is made in finance! 

If you are interested in Sales & Trading, Banking or FinTech focused roles in Asia or Japan then click here. Follow TMJ Partners on Linkedin Instagram or Twitter. We are the world's #1 recruiter on Twitter, with over 50,000+ followers globally! click here! 

あなたがアジアや日本のセールストレーディング,
バンキング、フィンテックの役割に興味がある場合は、こちらをクリックしてください。ティエムジェィパートナーズをLinkedin Instagram またはTwitterでフォローしてください！ 世界中のTwitterで第1位のリクルーター、50,000以上のフォロワーを既に持っています！クリックしてください。

For more Buy-Side and Sell-Side roles in Asia-Pacific, contact our TMJ Partners Japan & Asia Finance team.
Tokyo                                          Tokyo

      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
Direct + 81 3 3505 3891              Direct + 81 3 3505 3891