Layoffs Watch: Lily-Livered Fund Managers

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An affinity for risk can be a very bad thing. Blow-up-your-hedge-fund-and-become-a-laughingstock kind of bad. Ask Brian Hunter. Also lose your job kind of bad, especially if your affinity for risk produces losses and you work at Brevan Howard. But an aversion to risk? You might as well start boxing up your cubicle right now, according to science.

Loss averse fund managers are far more likely to get fired than their more aggressive colleagues according to a recent study which found that 36% of the most risk averse managers were ‘involuntarily terminated’ over an eight-year period compared to just under 6% for the least loss averse….

The most loss averse managers (those that rejected both lotteries) were more likely to end up at fixed income and balanced funds, while the least loss averse went to hedge funds. Even so, the most loss averse were six times more likely to be terminated (though some of them found new positions with smaller funds).

Loss Averse Managers Six Times More Likely To Get Fired [ValueWalk]

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Area Hedge Fund Manager: Leave Harry Alone!

As you may have heard, earlier this week the lovable scamp that is Prince Harry of Wales got in a bit of hot water when he was photographed ass naked in Las Vegas, with a bunch of equally ass naked ladies, following some sort of swim meet with Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte. Those photographs, some of which involved a billiards table and pool cues, were subsequently run on the covers of various newspapers and the Queen, being none too pleased, told her grandson to get on the first flight back to London (apparently in a tone so scary he knew she meant business and "did not mingle with other passengers," instead remaining "in the upstairs cabin of the 747" to think about what he'd done). While it's unclear what kind of punishment the Queen has in mind, or if she's yet delivered the sort of tongue lashing generally reserved for naughty Corgis and her subjects at RBS, in the meantime many have come to the prince's defense and advised the old lady to back off, like the hedge fund manager the Times found on the tube who thinks the Queen should relax and have a good laugh about it. She'd be doing the same thing if Prince Philip ever gave her a weekend off. Among people surveyed at random in central London, including subway commuters reading about the Las Vegas incident on the front page of the tabloid the Evening Standard, the verdict was mostly thumbs-up. “I think it’s quite funny,” said John Daniels, 46, a hedge fund manager. “I’m sure most people would like to be doing exactly the same thing, especially in Vegas. This is his own private time and people shouldn’t be taking photographs of him.” For Prince Harry, Vegas Exploits Didn't Stay There [NYT]