Friday Feature Book Review: Black Edge Inside Information, Dirty Money, and the Quest to Bring Down the Most Wanted Man on Wall Street by Sheelah Kolhatkar ブラックエッジ ――資産１兆円の男、スティーブ・コーエン物語 (ウィザードブックシリーズ)

How do you become a Billionaire Hedge Fund Manager? What path have others taken to get to that point? The story of Steven A Cohen, and the growth of SAC  & Point72, is an amazing one. Information is key, and there are levels of it, but talent is also needed. There are many things to learn from his financial career experience. The more you learn about him, the more you see how he is very similar to Bobby Axelrod in Billions. However, you also learn how they are very different. One may be an inspiration for the other, but they are not clones. In no way are they at all interchangeable. Both are clearly different people.

Black Edge is a term meaning top grade information about a stock or an investment that is a pure money maker in the right hands. However, it is also often illegal. Grey Edge is a term for information that is not public but could be found out by indirect means, and often still legal usually. White Edge is information that is in the public domain, and generally legal, however how you put it together can be very useful and never before figured out. It is often a story behind the numbers that bright people can figure out.

Who is Steven A. Cohen? and why was he at the center of a major investigation? In an industry driven by information, SAC was just one of many hedge funds looking for an edge, an information edge to make more money from trades. Where is the line of legal vs illegal? This is really at the heart of the story. 

There are many great details discovered around the hedge fund industry and the people in them. A lot of facts were gathered clearly. The author however, was an analyst at a hedge fund, and this comes out in how clear and well written many of the stories and people are in this book. It is not just a great story, it is really well written as a book, and that makes the story that more more impressive.

What I learned the most about Steven A. Cohen was how clearly talented was from a youth. He was driven as a kid, perhaps being one many kids, forces you to stand out. He grew up OK, but had wealthy grandparents, and always tried to do better than all around him. He wanted to escape his roots, and move up in the world early on. It seems this was how he approached many things in his life. There was often a goal, and that goal was about making money to leverage it into a better life in finance.

The biggest surprise for me though was the natural talent that he had with observing price movements. Reading the ticker tape was a deep seeded talent that allowed him to see price action like few around him. It set him apart because he studied stock prices in newspapers early, and had a natural comfort with how prices would move and could recognize patterns. The only other person I have read similar abilities about was the legendary short seller Jesse Livermore, the boy plunger. He made a US$100M+ fortune by selling America short in 1929. That is quite a benchmark and makes for a billionaire level of talent in this day and age.

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

1) Even the biggest hedge fund players who reach Billionaire level wealth, often start middle class with a very deep seeded desire to succeed from an early age.

2) The ability to make money in the markets is a clear skill. However, being smart in financial markets does not mean you are smart in all parts of life. Emotional decisions on a spouse can be poorly made for odd reasons.

3) Becoming a successful money manager brings capital, that forces you to change and evolve. The more capital you run, the more difficult it gets to maintain high returns. You have the change and mature your approach over time if you want to run major money in size.

The book is full of many details that cannot be covered in this review. The author Sheelah Kolhatkar, is a former hedge fund analyst herself. This really comes across with the understanding and level of detail that I really loved. What made the book enjoyable and easy to read though, was the quality of writing. The writing itself is smooth and engaging, always high in style and quality. This was very deeply researched and the details on the FBI agents and their motivations are excellent. In fact, all of the hedge fund ecosystem participants are really well described in motivation and background. You can recognize others like them and common themes right away. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to seek out answers about hedge funds on a global scale.

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 40,000+ 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、40,000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.
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      Mark  Pink                               Shinichi Nagasawa
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Friday Feature Book Review: "The Buy Side" : Turney Duff バイサイド : ターニー ダフ (ニューヨークヘッジファンドのインサイダーストーリー)

It is all about the money. This book is a buy side voyeur's guilty pleasure. The end game for many on Wall Street, is to end up "on the buy side". It is where the asset size is huge and the people running that big pile of cash, make a nice pile for themselves. That is the myth, the fantasy. Luckily, some have lived it, and seen it from the inside. This is one such story. 

All grass is greener on the other side of the fence, at least in theory. The reality is often less green or clean. Before Lehman Shock, "the white house" was known as a New York luxury apartment full of big money players with a lot of white cocaine. When buy side clients "ordered in", it often was for high end exotic escorts. This is a true life story about sex, drugs, stress and money, all pursued to spectacular excess. 

Sometimes you fly too close to the sun. You have waxed feathers, they melt and you fall. That is this book's core story. It is a modern twist on the famous Greek fable. Turney Duff starts off in Morgan Stanley, after intros from his only family relative in finance. "Uncle Tucker" opens the door for him, and he walks into Wall Street. The book works, because Turney was a journalism graduate. The book's writing is really excellent, perfectly fitting into documentary style, and that makes all the difference.

Uncle Tucker trades in his Corvette for a Mercedes Benz. He does so due to commissions he earns from a top client, Ivan Boesky, and calls it the "Boesky Benz". Boesky later goes to jail for insider trading. In fact, it was his unique personality that was used as the core base for Gordon Gekko. Also known as Mr "greed is good" made famous on the big screen in the Charlie Sheen movie Wall Street in 1987. Finance is about connecting with people, not always numbers. The female MD at Morgan Stanley that hired him, had a common interest in a US TV drama "Melrose Place", and sure enough, he got his first opening into finance. Ultimately finance is about relationships, very personal relationships.

Our hero has no MBA, no economic views of any sort, just soft skills and a hunger. This is a personality that works well in a world of professionals that wants more. We learn that Turney Duff, is not like his father, not the hard working man from Kennebunk, Maine, who shovels snow in fluid motion. His father is a man who thinks life is "not full of short cuts". Yet young Turney tries his own path, and finds every short cut possible while enjoying more sex, drugs and porn than the average rock star. 

He marries a model, wants to be on the cover of GQ magazine in a Prada suit with Dolce & Gabbana jewelry. In the end, he finds out that his search is really empty. Like driving by a car accident, you want to look away, but you can't. It is too compelling. It is too real. All of the Wall Street client patronage rumors that you heard about are explained or rather confessed to, in amazingly candid "too real for TV" detail to ignore.

Reading all of the examples of excess is like gorging on a giant bag of potato chips, and 2 liters of Coke. Not a good thing, but it's so good then, that you cannot stop. His personal life story does not end well, but that is not the point. What you want out of this book is clear confirmation of "how it really was" in the middle of a possible insider trading shop like the now infamous Galleon hedge fund, whose founder is now serving 11 years in prison. 

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

1) There is a lot to learn about how to be successful buy side trader. You have to learn about the key market players, and adapt to them constantly.

2) The best buy side traders know how to make money and keep doing what they do best where they have an edge, hopefully legal. You need to recognize patterns and be consistent and keep a constant ability to adapt to trends, markets and changes.

3) Becoming a successful buy side trader, a true long-term moneymaker is never fast or easy. Short cuts catch up with you, and can lead to your downfall. A market diary always helps. The more trading notes you take, the more profits you make. 

If you want to read in glorious detail what world got him there, and about what the peak was like from "an insider" then this book is for you. You will learn during the go-go New York pre-Lehman years of 2002-2007, what took place and get your belly full of over-excess satisfaction. It really did happen, and every story you ever heard about the wild night side of Wall Street is documented in this very honest with no self pity confession. Warning: not to be shared with your grandmother in any book exchange. 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 40,000+ 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、40,000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: Guns, Germs, and Steel : Author Jared Diamond 文庫 銃・病原菌・鉄: ジャレド・ダイアモンド

Wealth is health. Humans are not all equal across globe, so why is that? Why is there a segment of 1% across many populations around the globe? Is there a reason why the first world economies dominate third world economies? Is race, culture, technology, geography or any reason the key to the reason why? It is not easy to figure out, but can be done. The author succeeds. 

Why do people in the first world have more wealth than the rest of the world? Many races and societies have created great wealth over time, but then failed, is there any common pattern of success? This question was first asked by the author's helpers in New Guinea more than 30 years ago. It is very interesting to understand. He takes you on a historical journey. He explains a number of natural advantages that come down to geographic luck. 

The author's basic idea is that in Europe & Asia, especially near Mesopotamia, the fertile crescent, the best animals get domesticated. They no longer need to be hunted. Milk from these animals brings regular protein in rich diets. The people who live with animals get stronger in health and resist disease. Goats, sheep, pigs and cattle all help economic power. Animal power drives machines for improved production of food. Extra food can then be traded for storing extra wealth. Soon human health rises against disease and germs, it is the first economic advantage gained.

By spreading East and West along the same latitude in Europe and Asia, the extra food turned into wealth, could then be invested for artists, specialists and soldiers. The military benefit from germs was an extra weapon. This is best explained by smallpox when the Spanish first landed in North or South America. Over 95% of the native Indian populations died of small pox, those who survived then faced follow up diseases. Without this ability to work crops, the extra wealth created could not be stored. Once in place, then fire first used for clay pots, would lead to bronze and later steel weapons. 

Many have been critical of the theory as too simple, and does not value enough cultural influences. Many cannot accept that the land itself, the geography, determine local culture at its base. Farming allows storage for surplus wealth. Extra income from this surplus is then invested in technology, leading to better guns or steel. This all makes wealth easier to protect & transport via rail, and increase even more wealth. 

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

1) There is a lot to learn about how to be economically successful in society. You have to learn about key market factors, and adapt to them constantly. Germs attack the weak more than the strong.

2) The best economies know how to make money and keep doing what they do best where they have an edge, usually technology. You need to maximize the power of military guns or similar technology over all enemies.

3) Becoming a successful economy, for a true long-term length of success is never fast or easy. Short cuts catch up with you, and can lead to losses. The more you invest in higher levels of technology or other benefits to your society, the better you will triumphs over competitors. The steel industry is a good example, as few can enter it due to high capital entry costs.

The book is full of many details that cannot be covered in this review, but the theory itself is really eye opening in many ways. The land makes the people survive, not the other way around. As a Pulitzer prize winning project of 30 years, it has certainly made one man's career shine. I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to seek out answers in history that explain why economic wealth & power spread on a global scale.

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 40,000+ 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、40,000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: "Inside the House of Money" (Hedge Fund Manager Interviews) by Steven Drobny 市場成功者たちの内幕物語 :スティーブン ドロブニー (ヘッジファンドのインタビュー )

If you could have in-depth interviews with top hedge fund "masters of the universe" types, what would you ask? I suspect it would be the very same questions that Steven Drobny, the author, asks in this book. I love the format and the direct answers. They are always clear, concise and to the point. This book was an instant knowledge widener for many of the best hedge fund fundamentals needed for any overview. It served the right purpose for me at the right time. It certainly reminds me of the "Market Wizards" series in its style and format. In a similar way, it has high quality insight with every single chapter.

It is a series of one on one interviews. Each gives a great wrap up of which strategies have been able to take the best advantage of world markets at different times, and most importantly, why. I am a big Steven Drobny, fan as he is able to deeply research a subject matter, and explain it in a very smooth and logical rhythm that matches my mental intake pattern almost perfectly. Like a well tailored suit, this writing style fits me perfectly, and feels like a second skin, very natural.

The in-depth chapters and subject matters are wide ranging from "how family offices see the world". They then contrast totally with Yra Harris, floor trader. The dialogue with Christian Siva-Jothy, from Goldman prop (later SemperMacro) differs a lot from Dwight Anderson, who founded Ospraie within commodities. Each was a rare combination of feedback sources for me. It was presented really well, and I felt that I received my full money's worth when I finished this fine collection of conversations. I would described it as intellectual gold.

I get a sense that these are the kind of people who all have an edge. Partly unique talent, but always worked at continually. Further sharpened by long hours of hard work and dedication. There is no easy path to success. It is an insight that many investors or Managing Directors are always looking for in financial markets.

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

1) There is a lot to learn about how to be a successful hedge fund trader. You have to learn how and when markets may move in your favor, and adapt constantly.

2) The best traders know how to make money and keep doing what they do best, and focus on where they have an edge. You need to recognize patterns and be consistent, keep a constant ability to adapt to trends, and follow niche markets & changes.

3) Becoming a successful trader, a true long-term moneymaker, is never fast or easy. Losses are a part of profits, and cannot be avoided. However, by noting them, you seek to minimize them in future. The more trading notes you take, then the more profits you make. Write things down. That seems key.

At 356 pages this book is dense quality and no fluff - just great, high quality interviews asking the same kind of questions to legends in the hedge fund world. They are the kinds of questions I would have asked myself, maybe even over drinks in a New York bar, to get the full color. This book is a keeper and 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 40,000+ 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、40,000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: My Billion Dollar Education by Toshihide Iguchi 告白 (大和10億ドルの損失) : 井口 俊英

This is a true tell all "Rogue Trader" confession story, with no detail left out. In the beginning, I expected another trader story where things go well, a wild lifestyle is had, a mistake is made, and then it snow balls. I was only half right. Things never went well, a simple US$70,000 mistake was made early, back when the trader was making only US$45,000 a year in salary. He worried about keeping his job, and pushed the limits to cover it up at first. It proved to be a very slippery slope, with nowhere to go but down, not just for one career, but for a whole bank.

There are no excesses in his life style, no glitz and no glamour. When things go wrong, it really does so in size. A loss in the end, of over US$1billion is the biggest single little snowball that I have ever come across. It was not overnight, and did take 12 years to grow. It was a slow motion train wreck, not any crisis that popped up over a few days. In many ways it is just a classic style tragedy, with no happy ending or savior event near the end. There is no "feel good factor" after the first few chapters. It reads more as a kind of personal documentary recall of events.

In many ways, you could say that the main character is a wonderful multi-cultural ideal. The Japanese kid who goes to the US at a young age. He learns English, stays to study at university, marries a college sweetheart, and all starts off well. He becomes a father, moves to the big city, and lands a job with Daiwa, a Japanese bank in New York. He begins his financial career there, but it is not long after before reality hits.  Financial markets like life, go up and down.

You realize several things while reading this tale. Culturally, the trader does not know what cultural value systems to choose daily. He finds it difficult to balance the two, and his private life suffers. The second is that with double cultural wiring, he had a lot more ways to look at a problem, and gets creative. Sadly, this creativity is about how to cover up a mistake and hide a huge loss. In many ways, you wish he could have used his talent for a much better use within the bank. 

What do you learn from this book? You certainly learn many aspects of Japanese banking and jail life in New York City. These are things you really are glad to learn second hand. The politics around finding a big target like Daiwa bank, and bringing it down has some very unfortunate casualties. The bank is now known as Resona Bank, and is independent.

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

1) There is a lot to learn about how to be successful within any bank. You have to learn how management think.

2) The best traders know how to make money and keep doing what they do best. You need to be consistent and keep a constant ability to adapt to trends and changes.

3) Becoming a successful trader, a true long-term moneymaker is never fast or easy, but can sometimes appear to be to outsiders. Mistakes are made, and you have to fix them fast.

As somebody who has worked with Japanese, all of the personality types ring very true. There are patterns of behavior within a Japanese corporate that seem very realistic. Sadly, with so many millions gone. You almost wish he stored a little for himself, as a hedge. He clearly had talent, but not enough to see the bigger picture that he was in. You certainly gain a worthwhile perspective.  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 40,000+ 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、40,000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