Title: The Buy Side: A Wall Street Trader's Tale of Spectacular Excess
Author: Turney Duff
Publication Date: 06/04/2013
-------------------------------------------------
Sex, drugs, money and a hedge fund trader; Turney Duff’s
memoir of his Wall Street career takes the reader through his unorthodox start
on Wall Street, rise to fame and personal battles that came with the job that ultimately
lead to his demise.
Duff begins his novel by describing the events that lead him
from growing up in Kennebuck, Maine pursuing a career in journalism after
graduating from Ohio University to living in New York City looking for any work
possible. Through a connection fostered by his uncle, Duff is able to land a job
at Morgan Stanley and begins to learn the ropes of Wall Street.
Through a combination of perseverance and sheer luck, Duff
lands a place as a trader for Raj Rajaratnam’s massive hedge fund, Galleon
Group. After some time at the fund, he is given the opportunity to conduct proprietary
trading for the fund, and starts to see a different side of the Wall Street
Culture.
As a buy side trader, expense accounts run deep and Duff
finds himself being wine and dinned on a regular basis. This continues when
Duff leaves Galleon to become trade for Argus Partners. However, while at
Argus, he is encouraged to make stronger connects with sell-siders and begins
to enjoy more of the perks being offered. His business dinners transform from a
glass of wine over a streak dinner to an eight ball of coke and non-stop shots
of tequila, and no party would be complete without hookers—lots of them.
Soon Duff finds himself enjoying this lifestyle a little too
much. He comes to this realization after meeting the mother of his future child,
Jenn. After learning he has a daughter on the way, Duff attempts to settle down
and tells Jenn that he will stop using coke and drinking as much. However, Duff
finds it much harder to do than he expects.
Eventually, Duff enters himself into rehab and attempts to
start clean at a new firm, J.L. Berkowitz. This is short-lived. Soon he will be
back to using and hiding it from everyone. He hates himself but can’t seem to
stop. This will cost him more than just his buy side ji8ob. His girlfriend and
mother of his child, Jenn, leaves him and he finds his two million dollar home
nearing foreclosure. With an intervention from a close friend, Duff enters back
into rehab.
Duff does an excellent job taking the reader through these
events in a way that makes it hard to put the book down. He has opened the door
to a Wall Street culture that has remained hidden from Main Street and does so
in a way that excites the reader. I would highly recommend this read to anyone
interested in a great story of one man’s find of excess on Wall Street.
No comments:
Post a Comment