Forbes – The hedge fund industry is going through tough times. The average hedge fund manager has been unable to beat the market for the last 20 months. But the rewards for those traders who make it in this business remain enormous because of the rich fees hedge funds charge their clients. There are now 31 men on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans who have derived much of their wealth from running hedge fund money. In other words, these hedge fund managers represent 8% of the nation’s wealthiest individuals, which is a bigger percentage than ever before.
The man who set the standard for hedge fund wealth in America, however, is no longer managing money for outside investors. George Soros, now 82, retired in 2011 and turned his hedge fund into a family office, returning just under $1 billion in assets to outside investors. The move made his investment shop immune to the hedge fund industry’s new disclosure requirements.
