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Would you work 20-hour days for US$300m?

7 May 2008

This is what Greg Coffey, the Aussie hedge fund trader who’s now based in London, apparently does.

Coffey was big news last month when he left hedge fund GLG – giving up $250m in GLG shares in the process – to go it alone.

But, according to the London Times, he doesn’t get much time to do anything with his money, and spends 20 hours screen trading every day.

Even when Greg leaves London for a Coffey break with his family, his hardware takes the trip too. Having his gear there means he can trade through the night, so he doesn’t lose while his wife and kids snooze. If this sounds all too familiar, then maybe your job is becoming your life.

Is being like Coffey the way to get ahead? Can you succeed in finance and still have a life?

Comments (15)

I would because I think that you have no choice really as if you have stock in companies that are listed on foreign markets then in real terms the market never closes. If the market never closes then you could go broke while you sleep.

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Comments (15)

  • what about the all important daily S's ?

    time for a sh$t, shower and shave ?

    his wife might want a sh@g too !

    that leaves a couple of hours left to count is money and then hit the sack for a few seconds sleep !

    zzzzz

    sss 13 May 2008

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  • No way Jose! What's life is all about? I read about people like that who drop dead at his desk at very young age. So instead of enjoying the fruit of his labour in old age - well, you know the rest of the sentence.

    Isadora 13 May 2008

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  • People like this, more often then not, do not retire early to make their unnatural efforts pay off. I have four children, and missed the first five years of the middle two children because I was married to my job. I realise that loss now and know that I can never get that back for all the money in the world. Ok if you have no kids, but once you do, then there are much more important things in life then spending your life in the office. Having fancy holidays does not make up for your absence when the kids need it the most.

    Chrisem 13 May 2008

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  • I will probably end up working 12-16 hours a day in software development until I'm 65 and have nothing to show for it.

    So by all means, give me a retirement policy attached to the 10 years at 20 hours a day...

    alwyn 12 May 2008

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  • One day on his deathbed hell ask himself "was my life worth 300m and 20 hour days"....and working yourself to death at your desk is a real possibility. Happens  all the time in places like Japan.

    His boss is the real smart one, not Greg he gets paid more and I bet all the tea in china, he doesnt work anything like that nor bear similar stress.

    Hayden 12 May 2008

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  • It's very honorable to work so hard, and it sounds like he's doing a good job. I take my hat off to him. Personally...I would be in tahiti...oh...that's right...I am. If anyone is short of vanilla beans or coconuts drop by sometime.

    Monsieur Surfer 11 May 2008

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  • No not at all...

    ujwala 10 May 2008

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  • yes

    hiral 08 May 2008

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  • I would because I think that you have no choice really as if you have stock in companies that are listed on foreign markets then in real terms the market never closes.  If the market never closes then you could go broke while you sleep. Unless you cash out at the end of each day and I think that would be bad too.

    Random Guy 08 May 2008

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  • thats unhealthy isn't it....i could probably work for maximum 12 hours 9am - 9pm...i'm dead by 11pm

    mitz 08 May 2008

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