Would you work 20-hour days for US$300m?

7 May 2008

1 minute read

Would you work 20-hour days for US$300m?

This is what Greg Coffey, the Aussie hedge fund trader who's now based in London, apparently does.

Coffey was big news last month when he left hedge fund GLG - giving up $250m in GLG shares in the process - to go it alone.

But, according to the London Times, he doesn't get much time to do anything with his money, and spends 20 hours screen trading every day.

Even when Greg leaves London for a Coffey break with his family, his hardware takes the trip too. Having his gear there means he can trade through the night, so he doesn't lose while his wife and kids snooze. If this sounds all too familiar, then maybe your job is becoming your life.

Is being like Coffey the way to get ahead? Can you succeed in finance and still have a life?

AUTHOReFinancialCareers Australia

Insider Comment

ss
sss
13 May 2008
what about the all important daily S's ?
time for a sh$t, shower and shave ?
his wife might want a sh@g too !
that leaves a couple of hours left to count is money and then hit the sack for a few seconds sleep !
zzzzz
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Is
Isadora
13 May 2008
No way Jose! What's life is all about? I read about people like that who drop dead at his desk at very young age. So instead of enjoying the fruit of his labour in old age - well, you know the rest of the sentence.
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Ch
Chrisem
13 May 2008
People like this, more often then not, do not retire early to make their unnatural efforts pay off. I have four children, and missed the first five years of the middle two children because I was married to my job. I realise that loss now and know that I can never get that back for all the money in the world. Ok if you have no kids, but once you do, then there are much more important things in life then spending your life in the office. Having fancy holidays does not make up for your absence when the kids need it the most.
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al
alwyn
12 May 2008
I will probably end up working 12-16 hours a day in software development until I'm 65 and have nothing to show for it.
So by all means, give me a retirement policy attached to the 10 years at 20 hours a day...
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Ha
Hayden
12 May 2008
One day on his deathbed hell ask himself "was my life worth 300m and 20 hour days"....and working yourself to death at your desk is a real possibility. Happens all the time in places like Japan.
His boss is the real smart one, not Greg he gets paid more and I bet all the tea in china, he doesnt work anything like that nor bear similar stress.
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