Rob Copeland

A very unflattering look at a man who exceeds beyond almost any other in the murky and secretive world of hedge funds. Probably not a lot of people would be that familiar with Ray Dalio. I had heard of him but did not know much about him. This expose type book exposes Dalio the man behind arguably the most successful hedge fund in history, Bridgewater. Maybe not always the best performing fund, but certainly numero uno in getting many large entities to put their money aboard.

The gist of the organization is not so much investment strategy but more codification of what one man, Dalio, believes is important and in fact vital to the success of his organization and money machine. Hundreds upon hundreds of top notch graduates from so many of the elite college and universities are drawn into the machine seemingly in hope of striking it rich themselves. Some attain this goal at a questionable price to their personal sacrifice of in a sense their soul. But then in the financial world everything is for sale.

The rigid mind numbing rules and regulation of conduct in the organization of Dalio's with him at the pinnacle suggest a creepy cult like environment. And this point has been debated by those getting the take on what goes on inside the walls of the fortress. But the powers that be reject such nonsense claims and got right on running things their way. For them it works, for those investing sometimes, sometimes not. But curiously the money keeps pouring in from the outside which left me scratching my head But then again many of us wind up scratching our heads in grappling with the perplexities of high finance. So nothing new here.… (mais)