More Money Than God

Sebastian Mallaby

Bloomsbury, 2011

Hedge fund managers are the Liam Gallaghers of finance - the brash, some would say reckless, younger brothers who still somehow come out on top. Because of their unique "20+2" fee structure (a 2 per cent annual management fee and 20 per cent of any annual profit), top "hedgies" can earn vastly more in a year than even top bankers. And because hedge funds aim to beat both bull and bear markets, such pay packets are usually recession-proof. In 2008, one US manager, John Paulson, earned $3bn in the middle of the credit crunch (albeit from predicting it) while British hedgie Chris Hohn was allegedly the best-paid individual in UK that year, taking home an estimated