I am 18, and have a very strong interst in the financial markets, especially the stock market. My next favourite is the currency market which I’m rather good at and then the commodities markets. I know that investing and trading a 2 seperate things. I also know that trading is more like speculating than investing and can carry a high degree of risk to your capital. I happen to have a plan however for the idea of how a good hedge fund could operate, and that is to invest into distressed assets such as undervalued stocks that will surely bounce back with time applying value investing techniques. I know that some hedge fund managers do this and I’m very inspired by their successes. My favourite guy here is David Teppen or whatever his name is who made $7 billion for his fund this year, 2009. What I would like to know is, is starting a hedge fund as such the fastest way to become a billionaire via investing in the financial markets? Please give a good reasonable answer. Thanks.