A Love Story in San Francisco

Chapter 8: Everything changes for the better

The next day, at ten o'clock, in the company meeting room.

James (excitedly patting Lucas on the shoulder) : ‘Lucas, you guys, you're really impressive! Five hundred million, that's not a small amount, how did you do it?’

Lucas (awkwardly) : ‘I'm not really sure. I'm just the one who presented our company's situation to the investors. Maybe it's because the company is more famous.’

James, with a mischievous glint in his eye and a playful upturn at the corners of his mouth, speaks, ‘You must have your secrets again, but it doesn't matter, I'm rooting for you guys to get where you're going through your respective methods here, Lucas, well done!’

Perterson: ‘Lucas, you are nothing short of a superhero for us! This investment has allowed us to grow our management significantly!’

Green: ‘Yes, Lucas, you've given us all hope for our dreams!’

James (in a loud voice): ‘Well, colleagues, let's celebrate tonight for Lucas, for our team, and for this historic moment!’

Colleagues cheer in unison and applaud.

In the evening, in Riverland, a high-end bar downstairs, the atmosphere was warm, and the colleagues organised a small celebration party for Lucas, who had something on his mind, and didn't want to drink too much, so he went home early.

When he opened the door to his flat, Emma was comfortably lying on the sofa watching the soap opera The Big Bang Theory (although The Big Bang Theory talks about a lot of physics terminology and there are several physicists, but Emma and Lucas couldn't understand any of that anyway).Emma was a little surprised that Lucas was back so early, it was only 9 o'clock, she thought it would take until 12 o'clock to break up the party.

‘Lucas, why are you guys finished so early?’ emma asked

‘Oh, James has a client visit scheduled for tomorrow, so he left early and everyone is almost done’ Lucas replied.

After all, except James can share Lucas's performance share, other people basically have no earnings, everyone celebrates together, apart from envy, there is also jealousy, James left, everyone doesn't have to pretend anymore, those who want to leave, those who want to drink and chat continue, it's also good.

‘Lucas, with this 500 million under management, how much management fee can you earn in a year?’ Emma asked.

‘To be honest I haven't had time to calculate, generally we are the basic management fee of two per cent, and then 20 per cent of the excess performance, if we didn't complete the excess performance this year, then the management fee of this five hundred million, is ten million. Of course we're definitely going after over-performance.’ Lucas said calmly

‘Holy s**t, you guys can get at least ten million even after losing clients' money?’ Emma was surprised

‘It's mandated by the regulator because if the management fee is only charged if you make money, some managers would go crazy pursuing projects with a high risk appetite, which could be even more detrimental to the clients' interests.’ Lucas replied with a flourish. He knew it was a bit of a misnomer as well, but couldn't come up with a better way to split it.

There was also a downside to this model, which was that investment institutions would be one-sidedly pursuing maximising the size of their management rather than generating revenue for their clients, and so positions like theirs proliferated, and people like James, who had no investing ability but knew how to maintain client relationships very well, became senior executives in the business.

‘And how much can I share with you then?’ Emma asked.

‘It depends on the company at the end of the year, there is also James who will also distribute, generally speaking, I can share about 30%.’ Lucas said with a smile.

‘Oh my god, wouldn't you have at least 3 million then! That's awesome, then you can pay off your student loans in a year.’ Emma got a little excited too.

‘Yes Emma, we're rich.’

On the weekend, Lucas brought Emma to Union Square, Emma saw a Louis Vuitton Bucket Bag, this is the new model of the season, the classic Louis Vuitton pattern accompanied by exquisite hardware, very elegant, Lucas felt that Emma should be carrying such a good-looking backpack, so he did not hesitate to use his credit card to pay for the bag. Afterwards, Lucas took Emma to the Eleven People restaurant, where he ordered a sirloin steak and a glass of Scotch whisky, and gave a large tip to the waiter.

Lucas thought, it's good to have money. Of course, there was a twinge of worry inside him.