Lessons learned from a rich pothead – Andrew Lahde’s goodbye letter

Sometimes I just read something so amusing that I feel fortunate to have read it. Well, today my ex-coworker sent me a link to former hedge fund manager Andrew Lahde’s goodbye letter and it is one of these funny manifestos that made me laugh. Andrew Lahde managed Lahde Capital, which had a 870% return last year because he shorted subprime mortgages. Today he announced that he is quitting the business in a pretty blunt public letter that I thought was the most sensible thing I have read in more than a month. Here are some takeaways.

1. A lot of idiots graduate from ivy league schools – In Lahde’s words, these idiots were “low hanging fruit” that “were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy, only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.”

2. Life is more important than money – I write about this often, and it is refreshing to see someone actually quitting the grind even though he has the potential to earn so much more money. Andrew says that he will “let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck.” He also says that legacy is pretty overrated because people will forget Steven Balmer and Larry Ellison eventually so “throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.” He also mentioned that he will try to recover his health, which is more important than chasing new deals.

3. The government is broken - I think after witnessing the string of bailouts that marginally benefit everyday folks, we could agree on the point that the government is pretty broken. Lahde wants to see a forum where smart people come together to make up a better government. He thinks of the forum as Linux going against Microsoft. I don’t see that as very likely, but it’s fun to fantasize.

4. Pot isn’t as bad as alcohol and addictive prescription meds - This is probably the longest section of the letter, and possibly the most amusing. He makes some good points about how hemp is a really useful plant that was outlawed by a government that allows advertising for alcohol and more addictive drugs for the sake of money. My ex-coworker said, “I can just picture this guy lighting up half way through”.

Anyway, have a good weekend everyone. Live a little away from your computers and Blackberries, and as my crazy Spanish teacher would say, “No fuma drogas!”.

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