What happens to quants after age 50? There seems to be so few of them around...

This may be a good question for Emanuel. I think quants either develop into strong traders (and retire rich), or climb the research ladder and become managers of quants, or exit the business and move to something else. I don't have numbers, this is just my anecdotal experience.

In the mood i'm in today i am surprised many last after they are 35....I'm starting having my doubts that i want to keep on sitting in front of my monitor tomorrow, and i'm good 15 years short of the 50!

How about:1. Old quants never die, they just randomly walk away2. Old quants never die, they just expire ITM3. Old quants never die, they just numerically dis-integrateI'm sure there must be more like this.....

Following in Traden4Alpha's steps:4. Old quants never die, they are just knocked out.5. Old quants never die, they just get flattened.6. Old quants never die, they are just maximising entropy.7. Old quants never die, they just lose their drift.

One reason is of course is that it's a relatively new game, so ther are simply a lot fewer people who have reached that part of the age distribution.

QuoteOriginally posted by: KackToodlesWhat happens to quants after age 50? There seems to be so few of them around... where do you think glue comes from ?

why do you think there are so many headhunters?

It is all about Staying HungryJFL "This may be a good question for Emanuel."Derman I bet is always hungry for knowledge, so he will always stay ahead of the curve....I am also hungry for knowledge, just to bad my brain soon is full, not everybody was lucky enough to be borne with over capacity well this is why I talk som much crap, to free up some space.... stay hungry and also I just dumped out my memory on option formulas, it freed up a lot of space...I am really really hungry now, I could eat a hedge fund or two for lunch...the old stay hungry movie with Arnie is quite funny actually... do old body buidlers just fade away? No they become movie stars, governors,... and then.... retire as quants? "You can't grow without burning"

become an academic. teach financial engineering courses?

" do old quants just fade away?"Define old. To a 35 yo, 50 is old. To a 50 yo, 50 is not old. Chronological age does not reflect anything about a quant except chronological age. I fully agree with Collector..."It is all about Staying Hungry". In the true quant, hunger exists..... Period. It doesn't matter what one's age is. As regards fading away, I agree with jfl and DCFC.

After 30 years they have realised that it is all just too darn volatile!

suppose you get tired of trading. you can become a head hunter that helps newbies break in to trading. i wonder how much such a head hunter will make?

do old quants just fade away?No, not at all. When quants become too old to make money, they become authors and write how-to books on C++, FEM, Monte Carlo, Pricing Derivatives, etc.

somebody should start an old quants retirement village, where old quants can go to tell war stories and argue about the yield curve.