there are 3 issues i really wanna write about:
(1) Money Business (2) People in my Major (3) Hong Kong girls
Fund industry ‘overpaid by $1,300bn’
By Steve Johnson (FT)
Published: April 3 2011 08:53 | Last updated: April 3 2011 08:53
1. Money business
每個人都有自己獨特的理由去go for一個選擇，
只要不是傷天害理，就沒有絕對的錯與對。
然後turbo mode 把每件事做到問心無愧，is the rule of the game in life.
主修戲劇系的師妹來訪，請她吃了一頓波士頓龍蝦午餐。師妹初中開始就在香港演藝學院修課，年紀少少就憑自己去打開人脈，跟師傅學功夫，到英國研讀莎士比亞，有人會說她在發明星夢，但她對自己的夢想毫不猶疑，為達成目標，每天裝備自己。
我以她堅持夢想的堅定為傲。
主修環保系的日本摯友來訪，請他吃了一頓廣東小菜。日本同學醉心中文和中國發展，今天他卻告訴我，這個暑假，他會遠赴接近赤度的東非小國烏干達。他決定畢業論文要研究這共和國的魚農業。他對這個小國一無所知，更從未踏足過非洲，但他深信要襯年輕探險，親身瞭解世界之大。我以他的冒險精神為傲。
學妹開始說，在加州的香港人每一個都主修金融經濟，倒模式的將來，倒模式的理想。
朋友a:做金融的人只是每天把弄cash flow，把資產搬來搬去而已，對社會的貢獻是零。
朋友b: 沒有produce過任何intellctual/tangible capital，毫無生產力可言。
朋友c: 風險大，一個金融海嘯就可以把整個industry推倒。
朋友d: 做的都是no-brainer，侮辱智慧，而且工作時間長，收買人命。
朋友e: 一味靠speculation去無中生有，是不合邏輯常理的。
朋友f: 你不要因為peer pressure就這樣。
以上那些話，我實在太熟悉了。因為曾幾何時，我每一天都被灌輸／去灌輸 做金融的壞處。最後到了今天，還是跟著大家向那個方向走去了，成為“又一個背叛自己理想，沒有骨氣的跟風叛徒。”我不是想要辯護或者justify甚麼，但第一，我是一個沒有甚麼嗜好興趣的青年，小時候從來寫不出”我的志願“，也不是甚麼運動科學藝術精英，像李小龍哲學 “be water“一樣，重新塑造形態的opportunity cost很低。見步行步的生活方式，就像在圖書館裡不停亂挑書來skim through 一下，隨意翻幾頁，暗裡希望會在字裡行間 找到一句 可為我人生導航的金石名言。
第二，試想想香港人是在怎樣的環境被brought up的－－我們都很money-minded。你說我們物資主義，貪錢實際，一窩蜂盲目為金錢背棄理想興趣。但推動力都是為了提高家人的生活質素，你可以說我在美化箇中理由，但這些的確都是我（in all aspects）努力的理由。
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http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3adcb3e6-5c9c-11e0-ab7c-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1IfsIcyARhe “overpaid” fund management industry is destroying $1,300bn of value annually, according to an unpublished draft report conducted by IBM.The document, seen by FTfm, claims the industry is “paid too much for the value it delivers” and that “destroying value for clients and shareholders is unsustainable”.EDITOR’S CHOICERegional mutual fund passport a ‘pipe dream’ – Apr-03Funds rally to stem the march of the middle men – Apr-03Amundi money market move bucks trend – Mar-27Legg Mason looks to broaden expertise – Mar-27US asset managers gain ‘stable’ rating from Moody’s – Mar-27Cautious managed disappoint – Mar-27It also carries a prediction of swingeing job cuts in parts of the industry, such as sell side research, credit rating agencies and funds of hedge funds.The wide-ranging report, Financial Markets 2020, is based on a survey of more than 2,600 industry participants and government officials across 84 countries by the IBM Institute for Business Value.The bulk of the value destruction, almost $1,100bn a year, equivalent to 1.9 per cent of global gross domestic product, is seen as impacting on clients. This includes $300bn in excess fees for actively managed long-only funds that fail to beat their benchmark (this figure is quoted as $834bn in the draft report but it is believed IBM has since revised it lower), $250bn spent in fees for wealth management and advisory services that fail to deliver promised above-benchmark returns, and $51bn in fees for hedge funds that also fail to deliver their targeted returns.Credit rating agencies, sell side research and trading are seen as destroying a further $459bn, largely due to the perceived inaccuracy of much of the analysis these sectors deliver.Across the financial sector as a whole, IBM said “alpha generation” or the ability to deliver index-beating returns, was “pitiful”, despite the huge sums paid in pursuit of this. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it found 87 per cent of investors expressed no loyalty to their “primary investment provider”.The report argues the industry is destroying a further $213bn a year for shareholders due to organisational complexity, largely as a result of inefficiencies.This value destruction is “unsustainable” in a world where, according to respondents to the report, regulation is likely to become tighter in the wake of the financial crisis and investors are becoming more financially sophisticated, more price sensitive and increasingly keen to measure the “value-add” of their investment managers.“Government influence and client behavioural shifts over the next decade will destroy the majority of today’s revenue base,” the report states.Against this backdrop, the survey respondents indicate that significant job losses are inevitable. In particular, clients forecast a 45 per cent headcount reduction in sell side research and 42 per cent reduction at credit rating agencies in the next decade, as the buyside takes more of this activity in-house.Funds of hedge fund staff are seen as most vulnerable on the buyside, with headcount cuts of 37 per cent forecast.Liz Rae, senior adviser, investment and markets at the UK Investment Management Association, said fund houses were already bringing more research activities in-house, partly driven by a view that sell side was irredeemably conflicted.Sell-side research “probably is overstaffed and there is probably too much of it”, she said. However, Amin Rajan, chief executive of Create Research, a consultancy, argued that the bulk of the industry’s post-crisis job losses were now behind it. He said much of the value destruction was caused by the “behavioural biases” of investors.
impromptuz 