questions for a hedge fund manager

[turnipmonster]

the guy that owns the company that owns the company I work for runs a hedge fund. I asked my boss to schedule a lunch with him so us engineers can ask him wtf he does all day and how his fund works. I'm going to ask him all the normal questions a newb like me would ask a dude that runs a hedge fund, can anyone think of any especially interesting questions to ask?

I will obv report back with any answers if anyone is at all interested.

[burkoboy]

I am very interested however am prolly more of a newb than you so I have no idea the types of questions you should ask or anything

[edtost]

coming up with good questions is a lot easier if we know a few details about the fund ... do you know what type of strategies it uses/markets it focuses on?

[crazy canuck]

"coming up with good questions is a lot easier if we know a few details about the fund ... do you know what type of strategies it uses/markets it focuses on?"

And besides the above, what do you want to gain from the meeting? Do you want to be involved in the operation of the fund? Or invest?

[turnipmonster]

ed those are actually my first two questions. the fund has a private equity arm that buys companies in the music business, but I am interested in learning more about the trading part of the fund.

[turnipmonster]

[ QUOTE ]
And besides the above, what do you want to gain from the meeting? Do you want to be involved in the operation of the fund?

[/ QUOTE ]

I am just kind of curious about how it works and what they do, no real ulterior motive.

[Scorpion Man]

Ask him about concentration (how big his positions are and how many), leverage (how long and short he is as % of underlying equity), and turnover (how often he buys/sells). If he tells you he has low turnover, ashim what % of his gains are long term. IF he says he is low turnover and has smallish long term gains he is lying.

Ask him how often he is in contact with the mgmt teams of the companies he is involved with. Ask him how Reg FD changed the business (basically said mgmt is not sposed to tell you much).

[turnipmonster]

[ QUOTE ]
ask him what % of his gains are long term.

[/ QUOTE ]

not sure what you mean here, could you elaborate?

[Scorpion Man]

long term gains for tax purposes = position held for at least a year

[edtost]

ask how much quantitative analysis his traders do

edit: also, in keeping with SM's theme of asking about turnover and leverage, ask how he manages rebalancing his portfolio of long-term trades to manage risk. in fact, you could ask momre generally about his risk management practices.