Think and Grow Rich - Free Download

My blog has just stepped into the 6th year. I want to give you a little souvenir.

If you've been following my blog since 2007, you should have completed or already gone beyond the associate level.  It's time to talk about personal growth and development.

Being one of the best selling books on Personal Development and Self Help, at1970 (Napoleon Hill’s death), Think and Grow Rich had sold more than 20 million copies and by 2011 over 70 million copies had been sold worldwide.

 

It's definitely one of the best selling books across all categories at all time.

In case you haven’t read it yet, grab your free copy here: Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill's 1937 original masterpiece, and learn the secrets of living a richer life!

 

About The Book 

Napoleon Hill interviewed 500 extremely successful men and, from the experience, distilled the secret of success into a simple workable formula. 

The resulting book, Think And Grow Rich, took him 20 years to produce. 

The "13 steps" listed in the book are:

1. Desire
2. Faith
3. Autosuggestion
4. Specialized Knowledge
5. Imagination
6. Organized Planning
7. Decision
8. Persistence
9. Power of the Master Mind
10. The Mystery of Sex Transmutation
11. The Subconscious Mind
12. The Brain
13. The Sixth Sense

Investment Banking Resume - Free eBook

Hedge Fund – Rising Star in Creating Billionaires

Citadel and Ken Griffin
Ken Griffin – one of my clients whom I want to introduce to my blog readers as their idol. Ken is a typical example of starts young, gets rich young and is a self-made billionaire who of course, qualifies to retire young. His company, Citadel, was rated Best Hedge Fund by Euromoney in 2007.

Ken Griffin (38) was a typical successful young investor who started trading at his dorm room at Harvard. He established Citadel at the age of 22 in 1990.

Citadel - The Silent Giant
Unlike other private-money gurus such as Warren Buffett, Stephen Schwarzman and Steve Cohen, Ken Griffin remains largely unknown. Citadel has ballooned into an AUM of $16 billion. (That’s $1.5 billion more than Cohen’s firm and half a billion dollars more than the fund run by George Soros, according to estimates.) Citadel trades in low profile, however huge volume. On some days it trades as much as 3 percent of the volume on the Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange.

Ken Griffin’s Bio
1968 – Born
1990 – B.A. in Economics, Harvard University
1990 – Founded Citadel
2003 – Forbes 400 – net worth $650 million #377 (first time on list)
2004 – Forbes 400 – net worth $825 million #363
2005 – Forbes 400 – net worth $1.5 billion #207
2006 – Forbes 400 – net worth $1.7 billion #204
2007 – Forbes 400 – net worth $3 billion #117

More About Ken Griffin
Started investing as a Harvard undergrad; read article in Forbes about Home Shopping Network, became interested in the stock market. Managing $1 million of family's, friend's money by senior year. Convinced by investor Frank Meyer to move to Chicago; founded Citadel Investment Group 1990 with Meyer's money. His hedge funds said to have averaged 20% net of fees annually. Assets under management exceed $16 billion.
Source: Forbes 2007

Kenneth C. Griffin (born 1968 in Daytona Beach, Florida) is an American hedge fund manager. Currently, he is Managing Director and CEO of Citadel Investment Group, a Chicago based hedge fund. A self-made billionaire, he founded and propelled Citadel to one of the largest and most successful hedge funds in the world.
Source: Wikipedia

Download FREE eBook: "The Complete Guide To Day Trading"
Ken Griffin started day trading while he was at Harvard. Obviously he started early and became rich early. If you want to start now, download this free ebook and learn to become the trader you want to be.

Test of your investment knowledge
What is hedge fund?


Young investor

Retire Young Retire Rich - 30 Under 30 – David Wertentheil

David Wertentheil, Carlin Financial, New York
Age: 27
Trades: Event-driven equity, spreads

If you think that managerial positions are not meant for young people, you’ve got to change your mind. Here’s what David Wertentheil says:

“When you’re helping people make money, they don’t really care how old you are”.

To continue with the retire young and retire rich series, I am going to introduce David Wertentheil. At the age of 27, he is the Head of Trading at Carlin Financial in New York.

David not only manages complex equity trades for a wide range of institutional investors, he oversees a team of more than 12 – many older than he is. Do they mind being managed by a 27-year-old? “Not really,” David says. “When you’re helping people make money, they don’t really care how old you are”.

Test of your investment knowledge:

Nearly half of the 30 Under 30 in the world of financial trading come from alternative investments firms. Do you know what is alternative investment?

Retire Young Retire Rich

What has Bar Mitzvah to do with investment and finance?

Michael Steinhardt
Retired hedge fund manager, current philanthropist

Today I am going to introduce Michael Steinhardt, who is a generation older than Tim Sykes. However they have one thing in common. They both are traders who get started in finance and investment with their bar mitzvah gift money.

Remember last time I asked you what is bar mitzvah? Let’s take a look at it.

Bar Mitzvah
On bar mitzvah day a Jewish child becomes an adult fully responsible to God for becoming a better person.

According to Jewish law, a boy is deemed a "bar mitzvah" when he turns 13 and achieves the status of adulthood. A Jewish girl becomes a "bat mitzvah" when she turns 12.

Bar and bat mitzvahs are typically celebrated with a festive meal, with the family and friends of the bar mitzvah boy or bat mitzvah girl on hand to celebrate their entrance into adulthood.

The meal is often accompanied by speeches from friends and relatives who encourage the bar or bat mitzvah to undertake their new role as a full-fledged Jewish adult with joy, and to strive to add spirituality to their lives.

When I was first invited to a bar mitzvah, I had totally no idea what it was. No matter what, with a well-designed sophisticated invitation card, I knew it must be something serious. I dressed up for the ceremony and got ready a gift. When I asked the bar mitzvah boy’s mother what to give, she said ‘cash’. After all, I found that cash and stocks were the most popular bar mitzvah gifts. Perhaps “financial management” is one of the most important roles of an adult.

Bar Mitzvah vs Wealth
That’s why Tim Sykes got $12,415 to start his online trading business at the age of 17. Michael Steinhardt received from his father 200 shares of Penn Dixie Cement and Columbia Gas System stock, valued $5,000 for his bar mitzvah. Since then he started studying brokers’ reports and parlayed his bar mitzvah gift into a multi-million dollar hedge fund.

All about bar mitzvah

Michael Steinhardt - Bio
1940 – Born
1953 – Began studying brokers' reports
1960 – Graduated from University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance
1967 – Founded hedge fund company Steinhardt, Fine, Berkowitz & Co
1979 – Rename as Steinhardt Partners, after Berkowitz and Fine withdrew their partnership
1995 – Retired
2000 – Made historic gift of US$10 million to NYU's School of Education
Now – Philanthropist

Conversation with Michael Steindhart

More about Michael Steindhart

Start Young – if you want to retire young and retire rich
How young shall I start investing? Well, as young as 13 or 17, like Michael and Tim did.

If you are not from a Jewish origin and don’t have bar mitzvah gift to be your investment capital, build an investment banking career at any of the Wall Street firms, and see if you can outperform Michael or Tim.

Chinese Wealth Management Philosophy
Take care of yourself when you are poor, take care of the world when you are rich.
Liang Qichao (1873 -1929) - a Chinese scholar, journalist, philosopher and reformist

Michael and Tim are outstanding executors of Liang’s philosophy. Mike dedicates most of his life to philanthropy and keeps giving what he has. Tim is only 26, his Daytrading Award is just a start.

The Timothy Sykes Daytrading Award for the Talented

Michael Steindhart’s historic gift of US$10 million to NYU

Need help to step into the door of a bulge bracket investment bank?
Start with an amazing cover letter

Retire Young Retire Rich

Retire Young Retire Rich - 30 Under 30 – Tim Sykes

Timothy Sykes, Cilantro Fund Partners, New York
Age: 26
Trades: Equities – small-cap; micro-cap


If you want to retire young and retire rich, you have to plan or start an investment banking career while at school. I have reiterated this in my blog. Tim Sykes is a young man who has successfully executed this idea. If you recall, he’s number 26 (alphabetically) on the list of 30 Under 30 top traders. Let's get to know more about him.

Timothy Sykes - Bio
1981 – Born
1999 – Started day trading while at high school
2003 – Founded Cilantro Fund Partners
2003 – Established The Timothy Sykes Daytrading Award for the Talented
2003 – Graduated from Tulane University, New Orleans
2006 – Nominated 30 Under 30 Top Traders

Timothy Sykes, 26, runs a top-ranked, short-bias fund called Cilantro Fund Partners, which he founded in 2003 in his senior year at Tulane University in New Orleans.

At the age of 22, Tim started his $3.2 million Cilantro Fund Partners before graduating from Tulane University. He began with $100,000 from his parents and $900,000 of his own money. Sykes says he amassed his share from successful day trading during high school and college, having started at age 17 with $12,415 saved from bar mitzvah gifts. Trading, he says, "is basically like a video game for me."


How is Tim’s Cilantro Fund doing?
With AUM $3 million and four fund-of-fund investors and a 21 per cent three-year annualized average return, Cilantro was ranked the top short-bias fund in the Barclays Fund Rankings, released in early 2006.

How did you get your first job in finance?
Here’s what Tim says: My parents gave me permission to open an online brokerage account with $12,415 of my Bar Mitzvah gift money during my senior year of high school thinking I would lose it all and that it would be a great lesson about money. It turned into a great lesson for me as I turned it into a fully audited pretax sum of $1.65 million from 1999 to 2002. After that feat, friends and family wanted me to trade on their behalf so I created a hedge fund. Source: DealBreaker Read the full interview

The Timothy Sykes Daytrading Award for the Talented
Whilst some young guys had to seek financial aid to further their studies, Tim was actually contributing to the Tulane University, at the age of 22. In 2003, he endowed this cash award which honors members of the Tulane community pursuing non-traditional academic endeavors. Read more

Quote from Tulane University: The award was endowed in 2003 by Timothy Sykes, a Tulane College graduate who built his talent for daytrading on the stock market into a lucrative business and who wanted to encourage others to pursue their interests and talents. Sykes now lives in New York City, where he started his successful Cilantro Fund Partners LP before his Tulane graduation.

Answer to my previous question: What’s the difference between a CV and a resume?
Nowadays few people care to differentiate the two terms. However if you are hiring a resume writing service, you’ll notice that writing a CV costs far higher than writing a resume. So there must be a difference between the two.

A resume is usually one or two page in length, summarising your skills, experience and education. A CV (Curriculum Vitae) is usually longer and with more detailed history of your educational and academic backgrounds as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations and other details.

Both documents are aimed for job hunting. Not until you are looking for a very senior managerial role, a CV is not necessary. Therefore my blog title is Investment Banking Resumes, as my target audiences are young bankers and undergraduates.

Test of your general knowledge:
Tim Sykes started his day trading with his bar mitzvah gift money. What is bar mitzwah?



Retire Young Retire Rich

Retire Young Retire Rich - 30 Under 30 – Top Traders (21-30)

30 Under 30 - age as of September 2006

A continuation of traders who qualify to retire young and retire rich.

21. Jennifer Pomerantz, Sandell Asset Management, New York
Age: 26
Trades: Equities – energy, natural resources

22. Paul Redmond, Elite Derivatives, London
Age: 27
Trades: DAX futures

23. Scott Shleifer, Tiger Global Management, New York
Age: 29
Trades: Equities – emerging markets and technology

24. Josh Slavitt, BNP Paribas, New York
Age: 30
Trades: Equities derivatives

25. Paul Sohn, Kingdon Capital Management, New York
Age: 28
Trades: Equities – technology

26. Timothy Sykes, Cilantro Fund Partners, New York
Age: 25
Trades: Equities – small-cap; micro-cap

27. Andrew Warford, Maverick Capital, New York
Age: 29
Trades: Equities – technology

28. David Wertentheil, Carlin Financial, New York
Age: 27
Trades: Event-driven equity, spreads

29. Travis Williamson, DCF Capital, Greenwich, CT
Age: 27
Trades: Equities, options and fixed income - biotech

30. Benjamin Zorrilla, HLV Capital, New York
Age: 25
Trades: Equities

Read the full stories of the 30 Under 30

Answer to my previous question: What is ETF?
Exchange-Traded Funds




Retire Young Retire Rich

Retire Young Retire Rich - 30 Under 30 – Top Traders (11-20)

30 Under 30 - age as of September 2006

A continuation of traders who qualify to retire young and retire rich.

11. Simon Jones, Citigroup, New York
Age: 25
Trades: Spot forex – yen

12. Chris Lanigan, Ziff Brothers Investments, New York
Age: 29
Trades: Equities – energy

13. Cliff Larson III, The Cliff Larson Co., Minneapolis
Age: 27
Trades: Wheat

14. Austin Lewis, Lewis Asset Management, New York
Age: 30
Trades: Equities – micro-cap

15. Daniel Lirtzman, NYMEX, New York
Age: 30
Trades: Natural gas

16. Giles Macey, Mako Group, London
Age: 30
Trades: US Treasuries/futures and options

17. Kelvin Milgate, ABN AMRO, London
Age: 27
Trades: Carbon emissions

18. Adam Nadler, Sperling Enterprises, Boca Raton, FL
Age: 29
Trades: Equities

19. Marc Pasuco, XTF Market Making, New York
Age: 29
Trades: Energy ETFs

20. Darren Petterson, TransMarket Group, Chicago
Age: 30
Trades: Yield curve

21-30 - to be followed

Answer to my question yesterday: What is Bobl futures?
Contract (future) for an ideal type of Federal Government debenture bond with a nominal interest of 6 %, issued in the form of Federal Government debentures and Federal Treasury warrants with a residual term of 3.5 to 5 years. In other respects, the structure of the bobl future is similar to the Federal Government future. Source: Deutsche Bank

A futures contract with medium term debt that is issued by the Federal Republic of Germany as its underlying asset. The contract has a notional contract value of 100,000 euros, with a term to maturity of 4.5 to five years. Unlike most other types of future contracts, BOBL future contracts tend to be settled by delivery. Source: Investopedia

Test of your investment knowledge: What is ETF?



Retire Young Retire Rich

Retire Young Retire Rich - 30 Under 30 – Top Traders (1-10)

If you want to retire young and retire rich, check out what these young guys did.

While Trader Daily is receiving nomination for the 2007 list of 30 under 30 Top Traders, I would want to review last year’s list with you.

Candidates have to be under 30 by September of the nomination year. In 2006, the youngest were only 25.

Visit my blog frequently. You’ll be amazed by the success stories of these young guys.

Here’s what the editors of the poll say:
“We polled the worldwide trading community in order to identify the top young talent currently slaying the capital markets. Behold the future – and the present – of trading.”

“They are TOO YOUNG to remember the original Dukes of Hazzard. When disco was in style, most of them were in diapers… These are the rising stars of the trading universe, 30 of the best traders age 30 or younger – as determined by you…”

30 Under 30 – age as of September 2006

1. Chandler Bocklage, SAC Capital Advisors, Stamford, CT
Age: 28
Trades: Equities

2. John DePalma, Bank of America, New York
Age: 26
Trades: Fixed income – short-term interest rate

3. Lee Frankenfield, Deutsche Bank, New York
Age: 29
Trades: Equity Variance

4. David Garonzik, Goldman Sachs, New York
Age: 27
Trades: Forex

5. Gualtiero Giori, Sagio Investments, Geneva
Age: 26
Trades: Equities

6. James Groth, independent, Chicago
Age: 29
Trades: Treasuries, gold and equity index futures

7. Adam Grunfeld, Comac Capital, London
Age: 25
Trades: Currencies, metals, equities, interest-rate futures/swaps and exotics

8. Gabriel Hammond, Alerian Capital Management, New York
Age: 27
Trades: Energy – MLPs/ETFs/futures

9. Rebecca Hogan, Morgan Stanley, New York
Age: 27
Trades: MBS

10. Lawrie Inman, Marex Financial, London
Age: 25
Trades: Bobl futures

11-20 - to be followed




Retire Young Retire Rich

Retire Young Retire Rich – Build a Hedge Fund Career

Chase Coleman – Hedge Fund Trader
Tiger Technology Management
Age 31 (2007)

As my blog is for young bankers and those who want to start an investment banking career, I am now going to start a series of success stories about those of 30 or even younger. Here is a young man who qualifies to retire young and retire rich. Chase Coleman made US$50 million at the age of 30.

Trader Daily has an annual poll of Top 100 Hedge Fund Traders. In 2005, Chase Coleman was the youngest on the list. Let’s compare his estimated income between 2006 and 2007.

June 2006
Chase Coleman
City: New York
Firm: Tiger Technology Management
Age: 30

CONSIDERED ONE of the top young hedge-fund traders today, Charles “Chase” Payson Coleman III is a descendant of Peter Stuyvesant, the last Dutch governor of New York — and the man who constructed the wall that gave Wall Street its name. Now that’s a pedigree. Coleman had a stellar year in 2005, with returns of more than 40 percent across his $2 billion– plus portfolio, including some significant bets on several small-cap stocks in China and Europe. Coleman also got married last year. His clients love him as well.

Estimated Income: $40 - $50 Million
Source: Trader Daily


April 2007
You needed to have made $50 million in 2006 just to gain admission to this list. You needed $1 billion in annual comp to crack the Top 5. Behold capitalism’s ultimate honor roll — the fourth annual Trader Monthly 100.

Chase Coleman
City: New York
Firm: Tiger Global Management
Age: 31

One of the youngest members of the Trader Monthly 100, Coleman now manages roughly $2 billion in assets; his returns last year were in the neighborhood of 30 percent.

Estimated Income: $75-100 million
Source: Trader Daily

Couple of posts ago, I mentioned that Dow Kim of Merrill Lynch quitted his US$37-million job to start his own hedge fund. Looking at Chase’s income, will you support Kim’s decision?




Retire Young Retire Rich