One year ago
»» As we’ve done again this year, AR asked readers to submit candidates for our annual Funds to Watch list of up-and-coming hedge funds. The investment minefields of the previous three years provided an ideal testing ground for young funds and AR picked only five firms. These managers have since fared well. While the AR Composite is up a mere 2.05% through June, an equal-weighted investment in James Alpha Small Cap Fund, RiverNorth Capital Partners, Saturn Partners, GCA Credit Opportunities Fund, and Metacapital Mortgage Opportunities Fund would have produced a return of 7.63% during the same period (click the firm names for full performance data).
»» Financial crooner Merle Hazard (investor Jon Shayne) posted a music video on YouTube for his song “Greek Debt Crisis,” quickly garnering nearly 8,000 views.
Some sample lyrics: “The budget problems of the Greeks are a European pain / I hope it doesn’t spread to Portugal (Portugal, Portugal) Italy or Spain” and “The ECB and IMF (IMF, IMF) have applied their expertise / to keep the European Union from crumbling (from crumbling) just like feta cheese.”
The prescient song—in which Hazard suggests that, should a European bailout fail, Greece could always sell Crete—has now been viewed more than 59,000 times.
Five years ago
»» The High Water Women Foundation launched its second annual back-to-school backpack drive, which provides needy children with backpacks filled with school supplies, books and clothing.
The charity is now accepting donations for its 2011 drive with a goal of providing 6,000 fully-stuffed backpacks by the start of the school year. Each backpack costs about $20, meaning that for $10,000 donors can provide 500 of New York City’s neediest children—some of whom are homeless or in foster care—with proper supplies.
