Israel Englander Quotes

103 Israel Englander Quotes

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[In June 2010 on what the top four questions he is most frequently asked since the collapse of Lehman Brothers. The questions are all the same.] How do I get out of a fund?
Israel Englander

[In June 2010.] I have roughly 20 percent of my wealth invested in my funds so I have an extra incentive to monitor the risks and rewards of the funds.
Israel Englander

[In June 2010.] The mistrust that now permeates the wealth management business will take a few years to subside.
Israel Englander

[In June 2010.] Hedge funds will have to get used to more rigorous scrutiny from regulators as well as investors.
Israel Englander

[In June 2010 on being asked about proposals to increase regulations in the hedge fund industry.] I do not see regulation as much of a concern as long as the playing field is level. If it is, we will find a way to make money.
Israel Englander

[In June 2010 on high-frequency trading.] There will always be some players setting themselves up to do better.
Israel Englander

[In June 2010.] Investors need to ask fund managers ‘What do you do with the fee?’ There has to be alignment of the fee structure. The fee should be commensurate with the fund strategy. If it is trading intense – it dictates a higher fee.
Israel Englander

[In June 2010.] Remember, it is not about initial investment, it is about maintenance of investment. Don’t invest and forget. Stay current on the fund.
Israel Englander

[In May 2011 on what’s the first thing he reads every morning.] The P&L statements.
Israel Englander

[In May 2011.] Because more than 25% of Millennium’s activity is quantitative arbitrage, many of my pros are comfortable working with colleagues.
Israel Englander



[In May 2011.] Try telling a quant to be collegial. He might give you his birth date and a mug-shot picture.
Israel Englander

[In May 2011.] The world seems pretty fertile territory for the relative-value type strategies that are the speciality of Millennium Management. Millennium doesn’t focus on the macro economic outlook and tries to keep correlation and exposure to the market as low as possible.
Israel Englander

[In May 2011.] The firm tries to find anomalies in the value of related securities in equity and fixed-income markets. The current environment for these strategies is pretty fertile - as it was after the 2008 financial crisis
Israel Englander

[In May 2011.] There's more competition for talented traders, partly from so-called seeding firms that are willing to commit a lot of money to new hedge fund managers
Israel Englander

[In May 2011 on the Galleon Group – Raj Rajaratnam insider trading guilty verdict.] Managers are going to need to take another look at how they deal with expert networks in light of that insider-trading probe and the Rajaratnam verdict. Rules are being rewritten without being rewritten.
Israel Englander

[In May 2011 on the culture within Millennium Management.] It’s very important that there’s a common sense for the discipline, a level of simpatico. Unlike Jamie [
Dinan] and Lee [Ainslie], everyone does have their own P&L and they’re judged on their own. If people want to share their ideas, that’s fine, if they don’t, that’s fine. Though I will say we do about 20-25% in statistical arbitrage- try getting a quant to be collegial.
Israel Englander

[In November 2011 on the Tyranny of Management fees.] Millennium Management, does not charge management fees, for the same reason that it does not engage in the sex trafficking of minors or run a white slavery ring on the side: to do so (charge investors fees or force people to work for him against their own will) would be sick, twisted and wrong and, anyone who does should be ashamed of him or herself.
Israel Englander

[In November 2011.] In the old days the management fee was not commonplace. The business was ultimately run for the bottom line P&L. Investors shared in the business cost rather than an arbitrary pre-established management fee.
Israel Englander

[In November 2011.] The origin of the hedge fund industry – as entrepreneurial and opportunistic partnerships between managers and investors – is often forgotten and confused. Instead the term ‘hedge fund’ has become defined by the ‘two and 20’ group. [Referring to the 2% management fee and 20% performance fee that hedge funds typically charge.]
Israel Englander

[In November 2011.] The real problem with the two and 20 structure was that the manager’s incentives changed. By charging a fixed percentage of assets as a management fee, managers became encouraged to grow their businesses and as a result moved into areas that diversify into other areas beyond the ones they knew.
Israel Englander



[In November 2011.] Name me another industry in the world that has a management fee like this. If a manager has skin in the game, why would he create larger costs that are unnecessary.
Israel Englander

[In June 2012.] To pass on a firm where the principal is the dominating person making the money is very difficult because finding a replacement for someone like that is very difficult.
Israel Englander

[In June 2012.] Investors are very fickle.
Israel Englander


Bonus:

He hates losses. He also has a major bullsh*t detector. If he hires someone who says they’re doing a certain strategy and he finds out they’re doing something else, he won’t tolerate that.
Former top Millennium trader

[On Izzy Englander in May 2012.] I consider him my mentor in the business. I think he is a pioneer in the industry and has a very rare ability to truly recognize a strategy or Manager with ‘an edge’ and to manage that talent effectively. He is the best ‘seller’ I’ve ever seen. He has extreme discipline and can very easily let go of a losing trade or Manager without hesitation. In short, he is the best trader of Traders I’ve ever witnessed… He honors his deals. He is an old-fashioned trader type whose word is his bond.
Neil Berger



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