Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager: From the Top, to the Bottom, and Back Again

by Keith McCullough, Rich Blake

A fast-paced ride through the world of hedge funds revealing the unvarnished truth of how Wall Street really operates, and how to use this to your advantage An insider's view of the high stakes world of money management, Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager is both a practical guide for investors and the deeply personal story of a man who knows the system inside and out. One of the best young portfolio managers on Wall Street, and helping to run the hedge fund operation of one of the world's most prestigious firms, Keith McCullough finds himself a lone voice of reason as the economic crisis of 2008 looms large. Shown the door, his life takes a fascinating turn into the world of independent research and no-holds-barred criticism. Written with the authority of someone who knows how Wall Street and hedge funds work, yet accessible to even a casual follower of finance, Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager mixes a constructive critique of the investment industry with fundamental lessons that any investor will find valuable.

Genres: Finance, Nonfiction, Business

224 pages, Hardcover

First published December 15, 2009

Reviews

[Nedret Efe]

Narrative structure all over the place. Fairly self aggrandising. Hindsight bias

[Marius Ciuzelis]

A very simplistic book written in a narrative style and reflecting on past historical events. It is not very insightful least to say but sharing some author's personal "life-journey". I found it too much about "me", "how smart I am/was" and really lacked more sophisticated cultivation of the topics / events discussed. The last part on Research Edge was extremely pecky.

However, I read it with interest. It reminded me my late banking career days as a private wealth manager and early own business days of the same practice with transition from one to another happening around that time. I used to work with some of the mentioned institutions, hedge funds, thus I was curious to learn some "insider's" view.

Still there are few points we can learn from this book (or break some false stereotypes on hedge funds):
- being a hedge fund manager is more about meeting the companies you want to trade rather than trading itself;
- in the long run it's all about research and finding your own edge rather than opportunistically gambling/ crowd following/ or betting on "accidental" fortune of a good call;
- and to be successful is always about a hard work, persistence and discipline.

[A]

This is terrible. I would give it 0 stars if it was possible.

A waffly narrative about his life as a discretionary equity PM. Nothing insightful or interesting written despite working in one of the most interesting decades in finance.

Keith has a very inflated opinion of himself and his edge as a discretionary PM.

[Mark Zodda]

Very interesting look at the hedge fund industry circa 2008. A quick and interesting read though I wonder how dated the material is and what has changed, if anything, since then. More of a "pat yourself on the back" kind of book than a real look at how the industry operates with a side of favoritism, cronyism and nepotism thrown in for good measure. It still illuminates a world that occasionally appears on the news but still hidden behind a privacy screen. Well worth the time to read.

[Cyberjoe]

One of the most disgusting books I’ve ever read. Full of hindsight bias. The purpose of the book is to sell the “research” offered by the infallible author. The reader won’t learn anything meaningful beyond that the author was able to predict every turn of the market in the period from 1999 through 2009 😂😂🤣

[Joe Kleca]

Quick Read about The founder of Hedgeye

Very interesting read about the author. It’s definitely more of a personal story and won’t give much insight to his process. But if you’re a fan of hedgeye it gives you some appreciation for the experiences that made Keith who he is.

[Antti Vilpponen]

While this is a good read into how the Mucker came to be, the writing isn’t that great and doesn’t go too deep into the thinking and his process, except on a few occasions. Not the best finance read, but helps understand Keith if you’re into Hedgeye’s products like me.

[Fud]

good inside baseball for the HF industry and for KM’s story. Pulled some good nuggets re: process. Fun and quick but repetitive and listless at times

[John Hudson]

Self serving and not very insightful

[Dilly Whittaker]

10/10 - provides an immaculate story of the hedge fund world

[bookreader]

Read this book with an open mind. You may be disinclined to respect the opinions of a Thunder Bay junior hockey player who parlayed his on-ice exploits at Yale into a Wall Street gig and then, through gusto & hard work, into a short-lived, firm-hopping career as a hedge fund portfolio manager. What could he possibly add to the literature of investing? Well, for one, a surprisingly lucid account of the day-to-day investment process & workflow of a modern portfolio manager/analyst. Not to mention an unabashedly frank diatribe against the scores of hedge funds, laughably engaged in the meanest example of groupthink this side of the dotcom bubble, who ran leveraged long smack into the steepest market downturn of the century. While the author is a touch self-promotional, as well as defensive about his role in the Carlyle debacle, this is a worthy read for anyone seeking to peek under the covers to find out, "What exactly do these hedge fund guys do every day?"

[Oskar]

It started as a good read, but along the way delves too much on his personal background and less about the industry in general. It's a light read without any details on the hedge fund industry its self.

In the end, it's more like a sales book for his new research company.

[Christopher Benassi]

I really enjoyed this story. It was interesting to hear how different many of his views were, even while he was shorting Target while Ackman was pushing it up. It was also beneficial to hear how he added value as an analyst

[Vin]

His blue collar/working class point-of-view on Wall Street is refreshing, though he comes off a bit cocky at times. At the end of the day, one could say he is entitled to that, though. Good read. (Not as entertaining as his Twitter feed is)

[Patsy]

concise insight into the recent market collapse

[Kilee]

It was great to hear about the stock market from someone who was a part of it during the crash. An interesting book and very smart guy but horrible editing. Numerous mistakes.

[wowza]

fun but nothing of use gained