Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager

From the Top, to the Bottom, and Back Again

By Keith McCullough

With Rich Blake

DIARY OF A HEDGE FUND MANAGER (Wiley; January 2010; $29.95; Hardcover) is an insider's view of the high-stakes money management world. In a distinctly straightforward and, at times, humorous style, Keith McCullough and Rich Blake take you on the journey of a young and successful hedge fund manager and former junior hockey player from Thunder Bay, Ontario, as he gets recruited to the Ivy League, stumbles onto the nexus of the hedge fund universe, and then gets a crack at running his own pile—becoming one of the best young portfolio managers on the Street.

But when the young portfolio manager finds himself working for one of the world's most prestigious firms—helping to run their hedge fund operation just as the market is starting to crack in 2007—McCullough becomes a lonely voice of reason in a world that rewards groupthink and disregards the adage about past performance having no bearing on future results. When McCullough finds himself shown the door, the story takes a fascinating turn into the world of independent research and no-holds-barred criticism.

Page by page, this fast-paced ride through the world of hedge funds reveals the unvarnished truth of how Wall Street and hedge funds really operate and offers real-world investment lessons you can take away and put to good use.

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.

About the Author

KEITH McCULLOUGH is the founder of Hedgeye Risk Management, http://www.hedgeye.com/home, a provider of independent securities markets research that has become the go-to source for analysis and trade recommendations among savvy money managers. He is also a Bloomberg TV Contributing Editor. McCullough started in the business in 1999 as an equity analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston. From there, he ran assets for Dawson-Herman Capital Management's Millennium Fund, and then launched his own fund, Falcon Henge Partners LLC, which was integrated in to Magnetar Capital. He then moved on to become a portfolio manager at Carlyle–Blue Wave until 2007. McCullough is a graduate of Yale University and also former captain of the Yale hockey team.

RICH BLAKE was the cofounder and executive editor of Trader Monthly magazine. He frequently contributes to CNBC's Power Lunch and to Alpha and Portfolio magazines. Prior to the launch of Trader Monthly, Blake wrote for Institutional Investor. He is the author of two books, The Day Donny Herbert Woke Up and Talking Proud: Rediscovering the Magical Season of the 1980 Buffalo Bills.

Diary of a Hedge Fund Manager

From the Top, to the Bottom, and Back Again

By Keith McCullough

With Rich Blake

Wiley; January 2010; $29.95; Hardcover

ISBN:  9780470529720