Ray Dalio named world’s top money manager

In its latest annual survey of the world’s leading money managers, LCH Investments NV, the world’s oldest fund of funds, has named Bridgewater Associates’ Ray Dalio (pictured) as the top manager, earning his clients USD35.8bn since founding Bridgewater in 1975, and USD 13.8bn last year alone.

LCH Investments’ sources are a combination of meetings and contact with the managers themselves, audited and management reports, internal estimates and other confidential sources. In most cases, the money made includes money made by the manager on his own investment in the fund.

Rick Sopher, Chairman of LCH Investments NV, says: “The emergence of Bridgewater Pure Alpha and the gains they have reported in the past two years are outstanding and demonstrate the great opportunities that exist in macro investing at this time. Macro investing is notoriously difficult, but the best managers are able to find opportunities, especially in troubled markets. 6 out of the top 10 of the greatest money managers have made most of their money from macro trading.

“2011 was a difficult year for hedge funds generally, and the overall result was a loss of USD123 billion. Nevertheless, the longer term results show a gain for investors after all fees of USD474 billion, which can be considered very impressive, especially when compared to the results from investing in other vehicles and markets, including traditional long only managers in equity markets.”