Trader Greg Coffey
On the Internet you can find a lot of stories of achieving success on the stock exchange, however, as a rule, they all relate to a certain moment when a person, by chance, was able to climb to the top of Olympus.
It is worth understanding that sometimes a timely exit from the market is the best outcome, and 41-year-old retiree Greg Coffey is an excellent example of this, because he ended his career when everyone believed that he was at the dawn of his strength.
Greg Coffey is an Australian by birth, having been born in Sydney, Australia on April 25, 1971. After spending childhood in their homeland, the family moved to the USA to attend Macquarie University.
At the university I studied current research that was necessary for all insurers in order to determine tariffs, as well as for tax authorities.
Career ladder
After receiving his Bachelor's degree from Macquarie University, Greg managed to pass the qualifying competition and get an internship at Macquarie Bank. A successful start to his career after a year of work in 1994 allowed him to exchange a safe haven for research work at Bankers Trust.
It is worth noting that this direction was very profitable for speculative purposes, since developing countries showed enormous growth rates, which made it possible to carry out profitable short-term transactions with a minimal degree of risk.
After working for five years in the company, Bankers Trust came to a bad point, so it was absorbed by Deutsche Bank. Greg at that time was a fairly well-known specialist, so he quits and becomes one of the co-managers of the George Soros Foundation.
However, market conditions were far from favorable for investing in developing countries, and a number of problems with management and within the fund itself forced Greg to leave.
After leaving Soros, Greg received a very lucrative offer to head a division at Bank Austria, where he was supposed to conduct operations in emerging markets and carry out risky speculative transactions.
After working for a short time at the company, Greg Coffey received a very tempting offer from GLG.
Career at GLG
Coffey had a rather difficult start to his GLG career. So, in the early stages of his career, Greg was constantly engaged in executing orders of other managers and was an errand boy.
One day he made a huge mistake in operations, which led to a force majeure situation.
Such a mistake almost cost a career, because not only were relations with managers damaged, but also with management. When the question of Greg's dismissal arose, Philippe Jabre, who owned part of the company's shares, stood up for him.
After a year of work, Jabre’s bet on Coffey paid off, because the talented young man was not only able to reveal his potential, but also head a number of the company’s funds.
Greg had more than $7 billion under management, and his management revenues accounted for more than 60 percent of the company's total revenues.
Greg Coffey managed to ensure a fund return of 55 percent per annum over 5 years, for which the company paid him an average of $250 million.
Sensing strong echoes of the crisis and possible consequences on his career, Greg Coffey in 2008 decided to leave the company and end his stock exchange career.
At the time of his retirement, the 41-year-old trader had accumulated a huge sum of $743 million, which will allow him and his children to live comfortably for the rest of their lives.