Sometimes you think a piece is about one thing, then it turn into something else. Today’s WSJ headline, How Market Turmoil Waylaid the 'Quants', sounds like another in a series of sober financial articles about the ongoing turmoil in the capital markets. To be sure, it touches briefly on some of the mathematical models used by financial whiz-kids, techniques as far removed from buy-and-hold as a rocket from a hang-glider.
But then it turns into a profile of Peter Muller. Grizzled Wall Street veteran at 43, Peter Muller ran Morgan Stanley’s largest internal fund, quit, wrote crossword puzzles for the New York Times, recorded a couple of jazz piano albums, and won nearly $100,000 in a World Poker tournament. But he was too good at making money, and Morgan Stanley lured him back last year. Recent market troubles seem to have energized him.
Mr. Muller has been playing detective to avoid repeating past mistakes, peppering friends with questions about the performance of his peers, asking pointedly which funds got in trouble and which did better…..Mr. Muller has told friends that the August swoon presents opportunities for experienced managers like him.My high school counselor gave us these words of encouragement: every one of us has something that he can do better than 90% of the population. Peter Muller can do it better than 99.99% in at least four very different fields of human endeavor. © 2007 Stephen Yuen
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