How Michael Burry Achieved a Net Worth of $300 Million

Michael Burry is a famous hedge fund manager who made a killing in the market when the housing crash of 2008 hit. He is one of the few who saw the crisis coming and placed his bet against the banks. He is still famous for the brilliant move that earned him a fortune. His current estimated net worth is $300 million as of April of 2021. Did Mr. Burry make that much in his former career or did he earn his massive fortune some other way than being a hedge fund manager? We were curious so we looked into his past career activities to try to learn how he became so incredibly wealthy and here is what we discovered.

His current net worth

Burry is almost a third of the way to becoming a billionaire. He made his best decisions in 2007 when he bet against the banks netting him a cool $100 million in sheer profits. While this set him in a good position, he was far from finished in building his wealth. More than a decade later, he has tripled his net worth and continues to stockpile the cash annually, according to Bustle. A film was made about his remarkable achievement, starring British film actor Christian Bale playing the role of Dr. Michael Burry. The movie was titled “The Big Short” and it was nominated for a Golden Globe Award.

His early years

According to Vermont Republic, Michael was born in San Jose, California in June of 1971. His early years were difficult as he was diagnosed with cancer at the age of two. The toddler lost his natural eye to the disease and was fitted with an artificial replacement eye. He recovered fully from the frightening event and took an interest in medicine.

His first career

Burry didn’t plan to become an investor, let alone a hedge fund manager. He had a passion for healing and an interest in the medical profession. He graduated from Santa Teresa High School and immediately enrolled in the pre-med and economics programs at the University of California. After completing his courses there he transferred to Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, earning his M.D. he entered the residency program to complete his training at Stanford Hospital and Clinics in the department of neurology. While working on completion, he was distracted by another passion that turned out to be stronger than his desire to practice medicine. Michael had dabbled in investments and even made it a hobby while at UCLA. He seemed to know what to bet on and what not to. His talent as an investor caught the attention of some of the larger companies.

Making a career switch

Burry still retained his license to practice medicine, but he chose not to complete his medical residency. he decided to change careers when he was so close to the finish line in medicine. In 2000, Burry founded the Scion Capital hedge fund. He obtained the startup money to fund the operation from his mother and father. Within 12 months the fund gained just under 12 percent. The following year saw even greater results with a 16 percent profit margin. By the end of 2004, Scion had grown by 50 percent which was the equivalent of $600 million. He achieved this pinnacle of success after he moved to the Subprime market. Michael Burry had made the complete change in his career from being a medical physician to a hedge fund manager. He was a brilliant market analyst and his studies of the real estate market predicted that the bubble would collapse around 2007. Although it came a little later, he was close in his timing. Investors in his company made as much as $700 million, but Burry was pleased with his take. After the huge success, he closed the fund and turned to a career of personal investment.

The past ten years

For the past decade, Mr. Burry has gone on to become one of the most successful hedge fund managers and investors in the United States. he continued to make personal investments that have delivered high returns on investments. According to Love Money, He’s numbered among the most famous hedge-betters including George Soros, John Paulson, and Jim Chanos, who bet on the worst happening and got rich for being right. That’s the philosophy behind hedge betting. Burry’s fame spread so rapidly that there was a short non-fiction book written about his life that was followed up with the film about his life, both titled “The Big Short,” which tells his incredible story that happens to be true. In Michael Burry’s case, it paid to be a pessimist and hope for the worst to happen. It’s not that he’s a pain monger or loves catastrophe, it’s just that he can see the handwriting on the wall and capitalize on it.

Final thoughts

Michael Burry is one of the most gifted financial analysts in America today. He’s been in the game since he walked away from his medical residency to become a medical doctor and steered his career in a different direction. Although he’d likely have made a fine physician, his passion for numbers and his keen awareness of the behaviors of markets allowed him to carve a niche in the hedge fund industry that made him worth hundreds of millions of dollars. It is within the trading industry that he has earned his fortune. It started with the first $100 million he earned in his hedge fund and has continued to increase ever since. Michel continues to do what he loves for a living, and it seems that the money just keeps piling up in his accounts. His skills and intuition are nothing short of phenomenal. He hasn’t needed to do anything else for a living because working in investments and big finance is the thing that brings him the most satisfaction.