Aug

14

RIP Vic Niederhoffer

There are those who teach skills, methods, subjects, or even entire professions. And there are people who permanently change the way one thinks. Victor Niederhoffer was, for me, emphatically the latter.

I landed on a trading desk in the mid-1990s with no background in finance or business and a single economics course (which, ironically, I'd hated) under my belt. Shortly thereafter I picked up Victor's newly-released book The Education of a Speculator. It permanently altered the way I thought; not only about markets, but about the nature of inquiry itself. Shortly thereafter I undertook what seemed like a daunting but morally imperative task: reaching out to him through an unsolicited message via Bloomberg. I told him how much I admired his book and how intrigued I was by his methods. To my surprise, he replied - and invited me to his home for a gathering several weeks later. That simple act of generosity began an enduring mentorship and, eventually, a treasured friendship.


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