Quote from Brandonf:
I made the money for them. Had I not had the money they would not have made any. Your thinking is a little flawed.
No sir, I believe that your reasoning is a bit one-dimensional. Under your arrangement, if the market should offer twice as many gains to your client in a given year, you will dutifully confiscate twice as money from him, while providing the exact same service - thus "spreading the wealth" - directly into your pocket. If you did the honorable, by contractually guaranteeing reimbursement of a percentage of any potential losses, you would have a true 'performance based compensation'. Unfortunately, you and other managers chose a compensation scheme that undeniably encourages money managers to expose their clients' capital to more risk as a means of obtaining higher personal reward - with no additional personal risk being borne by the manager. A '% of AUM' fee would never create a similar compromising situation for your client.
The hedge fund industry's version of 'spreading the wealth' is more insidious than anything Obama is going to come up with.
Of course, I understand why you prefer to view the client/manager relationship in the terms you've outlined.