Cognitive Disconnect of the Day

Susan Pulliam reports on hedge fund manager Thane Ritchie, son of options trader Joe Ritchie:

Mr. Ritchie, who is tall, with blond hair, lives with his wife and three children in a modest, four-bedroom house. He says he doesn’t own a vacation home, a boat or many of the other trappings that often go hand in hand with managing a hedge fund.

"I was brought up to see money as a curse," he says. He notes that his stepfather drove a "beat up Dodge Dart," even after he had grown rich from his options business.

Yet Mr. Ritchie admits that he started a hedge fund because he "wanted to make money," adding, "I way exceeded my expectations." He declines to comment on his current net worth…

He launched Ritchie Capital Management in 1998 with $15 million of his own money and $10 million from Joe Ritchie.

Why would a multimillionaire with a very modest lifestyle, who starts off with more money than he’ll ever spend, decide to start up a hedge fund, of all things? I suspect that if you need to ask, you’ll never understand.

This entry was posted in hedge funds, wealth. Bookmark the permalink.