Trading places: the rise of the DIY hedge fund

Naoki Nagai, a 36-year-old Harvard graduate who grew up in Japan, is a one-man hedge fund. For the past 16 months he has written hundreds of algorithms in much the same manner as quantitative traders in the City of London or Wall Street. But, rather than trade from a Canary Wharf skyscraper or a Manhattan boutique fund, he does so from his home in Honolulu. In August 2006, Nagai left his job as a management consultant in Tokyo to establish a translation company, which over the next few years began to thrive. The success of his organisation, and the fact it wasn't dependent on location, gave Nagai the opportunity to reconsider his lifestyle. He chose to move from Japan to Hawaii. With its appealing climate and laid-back lifestyle, Honolulu seemed a great place to raise a family. Nagai and his wife arrived in the US in January 2014.