This 20-year-old says he dropped out of NYU to start his own hedge fund
Courtesy of Julian Marchese
Julian Marchese, 20, left New York University last year to focus on his business, Marchese Investments.
"NYU is extremely expensive," Marchese told Business Insider. "I felt that the next three years that I would have spent at school, I could have spent on building [investment] strategies."
Becoming an entrepreneur fulfills a lifelong dream, he added.
"I like making my own hours," he said. "I can work as hard as I want to. There's no office I have to go to."
For now, that's truly the case. He has been working from his family's home in suburban Toronto before he moves back to Manhattan early next year, where he rents a shared office space on Wall Street, he said.
A handful of industry vets have helped him set up his operations, and he plans to eventually hire some programmers and even an intern.
Marchese said he manages about $1 million since launching last October, and expects another $3 million or so to come in over the coming months.
Hedge funds don't have to disclose much information, and tiny ones don't have to disclose anything at all, so Business Insider can't verify the amounts independently. But we did hear about Marchese going out on his own from a person in the industry.
Marchese declined to identify the investors, but said it wasn't his family.
"I don't come from much money," he added. "Most of it went to NYU."
Rather, investors got to know him as he gained publicity as an investing whiz kid. One investor expressed interest after Business Insider profiled him during his freshman year, when he was setting up shop in his dorm.
Melia Robinson/BI
Marchese invests using quantitative strategies - which use computer programs - to trade stocks and exchange traded funds. He has returned about 14% net of fees since launching last October, according to a performance record he provided.
It's far from common for investors to launch funds in their 20s, let alone without a college degree - though a recent exception is Jamie Sterne, a 28-year-old Harvard grad.
Technically, Marchese's firm is not a hedge fund, which pools capital in one structure. Rather, he's starting out managing investors' money in separate accounts. But he said he plans on launching a commingled hedge fund in the coming months.
So why start off on his own rather than head to one of the established funds to work on his craft?
"I believe I have an investment philosophy that adds value on its own," he said. "I don't want to share that intellectual property with anyone because I think it's best serviced to my investors."
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- A centenarian who starts her day with gentle exercise and loves walks shares 5 longevity tips, including staying single
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- Election Commission issues notification for sixth phase of Lok Sabha polls
- 6 Coffee recipes you should try this summer
- "To sit and talk in the box...!" Kohli's message to critics as RCB wrecks GT in IPL Match 45
- 7 Nutritious and flavourful tiffin ideas to pack for school
- India's e-commerce market set to skyrocket as the country's digital economy surges to USD 1 Trillion by 2030
- JNK India IPO allotment date
- JioCinema New Plans
- Realme Narzo 70 Launched
- Apple Let Loose event
- Elon Musk Apology
- RIL cash flows
- Charlie Munger
- Feedbank IPO allotment
- Tata IPO allotment
- Most generous retirement plans
- Broadcom lays off
- Cibil Score vs Cibil Report
- Birla and Bajaj in top Richest
- Nestle Sept 2023 report
- India Equity Market