hedge fund guy here. 100's of Millions.
Posted this before but since I know money is probably the answer to the thread I thought it if post it again.
Currently sitting in Dubai and my hedge fund days are behind me. For anonymity I'll keep most things here private.
I joined a hedge fund when I was pretty young fresh out of a trading role at a bank. I was 25 at the time. At that age I was pulling in upwards of 800k as a analyst with my total compensation package. I thought that was a lot of money, but very quickly I fell into Wall Street greed.
I moved up relatively quickly to manage my own book at the fund. I turned 29 and I made 19 million in a year. Our fund was a top performer and we were one of the first to break the billion dollar AUM mark (now a billion is nothing).
It changed me as a person completely. I used to respect surgeons and doctors and other individuals. Something clicked in my head and I became a complete asshole. I convinced myself I was better than them because I made more than an entire hospital staff combined.
The money got to my head pretty quickly. I found a level of charisma I never thought I had. It helped both personally and professionally. I could talk my way out of anything.
I could talk women out of their clothes. I've had plenty of romantic flings that have asked me who was the one who taught me how to talk to women.
I picked up this Yale chick who had a boyfriend. Her initial response to me was she was taken. I said to her I have 4 wives - plenty more at stake for me than you. She laughed and said no. Then I started insulting her boyfriend. She got pissed and said to me to watch my mouth I don't know anything about her boyfriend. I responded that I knew plenty about him. She was ready to slap me and she said "like what?!" And I took a moment and on the spot said "he has incredible taste in women".
I remember on one investor call a person called me a gambler. I said back, "the day I fucking lose money you can call me a gambler, otherwise I'm a fucking hedge fund manager". He said back, "you lost 15% in year x" to which I replied "I didn't lose 15%. I let Wall Street borrow 15% and the following year I collected back principal plus interest on my fucking loan for a return of 50%".
I thought I was happy. I became more aggressive and a greater and greater appetitive for risk and sex. (Surprisingly enough, I stayed away from drugs and alcohol solely for the reason because it would've fucked my ability to generate returns)
I swear on my life: I've had Wilhelmina type super models, mothers and daughters agree to fucking, married women, picked up bona fide lesbian, and slew of others.
I had two phones. One for hoes. One for business.
I used to ask women to set their price just for fun. I watched them put a value on themselves.
In one year I slept with no less than 150 women. I mean 3 somes every night and lunch stop fucks.
The greed kept building and by the time I turned 36 I managed to move into a partner role. I amassed over a 100 million. But I had my eyes set on the billion.
At one point I got into an argument with an NBA player. It was over money. I said some despicable things. I said a typical successful player over his career makes anywhere from 100-200 million. For what? Catching balls. You know what I do? I throw my balls around. I was out of line.
I'm skipping over a lot of details. The fund closed, I developed a lot of serious problems mentally, I did have any real friends. The cars and the houses I didn't even look after.
I ended up in Dubai. I met some super wealthy people here. Strangely enough, I couldn't tell they were wealthy until they told me. They're very grounded and disciplined (well at least the ones I know) and very religious. I enjoyed watching the fasting month. I knew I needed this level of discipline.
Few years later I'm here now. I had my first son. When I saw him I melted. Honestly of all the fun and the money, this kid brings me more joy than anything.
Money is destructive. A good job keeps you sane.