Hedgehogging

Barton Biggs is one of the most well-respected figures in the investment management community. He has prospered during both bull and bear markets, and has adapted to an investment landscape that has been transformed by technology and globalization. His legendary money management skills helped set the benchmark for investment management excellence. Now, for the first time, Biggs shares his experiences in the world of hedge funds and investments.

Through an interwoven series of entertaining and informative chapters, HedgeHogging reveals Biggs' experiences--with friends and acquaintances--over his investment years. Some material encompasses the highlights from his 30-year career at Morgan Stanley, while many other parts are more recent and relate to the creation and investment endeavors of Biggs' hedge fund. Filled with in-depth insights and valuable lessons, the stories and events described throughout the book offer a rare glimpse of the investment business and the people who are a part of it. These stories, based on Biggs' experiences (although some have been fictionalized to protect the innocent as well as the guilty), candidly reveal the intensity, stress, foibles, and insecurities of the men and women who manage other people's money. They also capture the ecstasy of getting investment performance right and the agony of being wrong. In the aftermath of the great bull market and the bursting of the bubble, many professional investors have been looked upon as overpaid individuals that promise much, but deliver little. HedgeHogging takes readers inside this world and shows them how the challenging battle for investment survival can be its own life-or-death struggle for individuals participating in this competitive field.