It's Not About the Money

Last fall, I sat down with a fellow former hedge fund of funds professional Khe Hy, who left the business a few years ago and has developed a fascinating media platform around introspection, self-awareness, and self-development. Certainly a set of characteristics we don’t normally associate with folks in the asset management business.

Khe interviewed me about my career path and some lessons I’ve learned about people, business, and life. With his permission, I am sharing the conversation to allow you to learn more about the perspective that I bring to the conversations on Capital Allocators.

If you like the subject matter, I’d encourage you to check out Khe’s podcast, entitled Rad Awakenings, available on itunes or his website, radreads.co.

Show Notes  

1:53 – Ted’s time with Dave Swensen  

2:40 – How did Ted get the job not knowing about stocks  

3:56 – The start of Ted’s time at Protégé  

5:27 – How did Ted view the world as someone picking managers vs someone picking stocks 

9:01 – Early days at Protégé 

10:36 – Attributes that Ted tried to unpack about individuals 

13:18 – Understanding a team’s intrinsic vs extrinsic motivations 

15:03 – How much of investing is about true skill vs being on the right side of a market trend 

17:06 – What did Ted learn about greed during the bull market run of the early 2000’s  

20:00 – The ego, envy and entitlement of financial professionals  

22:36 – The potential to hit a high-water mark and never feeling satisfied 

28:20 – Loving what you do despite the financial windfall 

32:50 – Would Ted have the same passion for the markets if he hit the proverbial lottery  

34:36 – The feeling of financial survival and what would happen if Ted didn’t have it 

37:24 – Citizen Schools 

38:41 – How to stop caring about other people’s perception of you 

40:46 – Most underrated attribute of Ted that he has discovered in his reinvention  

41:53 – Times Ted’s resilience was tested 

43:08 – Ted on Invest Like the Best Podcast 

43:10 – Hero's Journey Foundation 

45:02 – What does higher education and first jobs look like for the next generation given the digital changes in society  

49:20 – Do millennials have less upward mobility then past generations 

49:43 – The Premium Mediocre Life of Maya Millennial 

52:09 – Follow and learn more about Ted at capitalallocatorspodcast.com 

57:41 – Closing questions with special guest interviewers