Just my 2cents - you sound like a whiny 18yr old with pie-in-the-sky-ideals (especially after reading comments like 'maybe I shoud place an add in the paper....')
I've been managing a hedge fund ( > $200M) since I was 24, going to be launching a mutual fund in the next few weeks, so I've been around the block a few times - what was said above is true - either you have networking abilities and know the people, or the money will find you. In my case, i worked as an analyst, did some (apparently) 'brilliant' work with modelling energy options and some people wanted to see what I could do on in another area.
This isn't to kill your ambition; it's a reality-check. If you can't pick up the phone, call a few people and round up a few million, it's time to bunker down, do your networking, and watch those senior to you - study them, learn the craft, then add your own adaptations to it and rock it out.
By the way, I absolutely despise higher level degrees - 98% of people with them have the 'I am a god and know what I am doing even though I've never done it before' attitude. My degree is in actuarial science (was too stupid to pass the SOA exams though, haha!) and the only thing it taught me was different lines of thinking - not that I'm a quantitative guru like most people seem to think when they get their applied/pure/acsc/stats degree. A high level degree/designation doesn't mean much out there unless you've got the (proven) skills to back it up.