In the second of stunning announcements in a matter of weeks, George Soros, internationally renowned global Hedge Fund Manager announced the resignation of two (make that three as of Wednesday, May 3) of his top investment managers.

The first two, Druckenmiller and Roditi have stated that they are leaving the investment world altogether, no longer confident that they can continue to move massive amounts of money in the markets and make a profit for their clients.

By massive, we mean billions of dollars, not mere millions that impress the rest of us. Mr. Soros has stated that he will no longer be placing large hedge positions (bets, for us mere folk) that is around two billion per play.

Rather, he will break up his Quantum fund (8.4 billion) into 10-12 smaller funds that will return to the utilising sound investment fundamentals.

Earlier in April, we mentioned that the Manager of the Tiger Fund in the US, Julian Robertson, announced that he also did not understand the market anymore and he was getting out.

Who is George Soros? Mr. Soros is an extremely wealthy self-made investment manager and famous for his hedge funds positioning in world markets (posititioning just a fancy word for betting). His bet on the fall of the British pound in 1992, netted his funds about 3 billion dollars. A staggering amount then and still almost beyond our layman comprehension. How much money is enough? Needless to say, this did not win any popularity contests with the Brits.

More recently, Mr. Soros made significant bets on the Russian economy, which were not to his advantage. He has also written several books, including in 1994 The Alchemy of Finance: Reading the Mind of the Market and in 1998, The Crisis of Global Capitalism: Open Society Endangered.

His Open Society book caused a stir when released as he maintains that there is a profound and dangerous imbalance between the explosive growth of the global economy and the development of a free and open society.

His losses alone are more than the total capital of the Bermuda Government.

It is rumoured on the street (Wall Street and other stock markets) that his losses in the last few months total around $3 billion, but he has stated he has plenty of ready cash to pay out on client redemptions. Glossary: redemptions are when you liquidate your holdings in a fund. Net redemptions mean that money flowing into a fund was less than money flowing out.

So, if you think that investing is easy, think again. Yes, I know what the young day-traders are saying, they were both over the hill and just couldn't cut it anymore. Maybe, maybe not.

Meanwhile, Another Hamburger and Coke Lunch Away, Warren Buffet, otherwise known as the oracle of Omaha and considered one of Omaha and Wall Street's finest investors, probably feels somewhat vindicated.

While he apologised to his shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway, as the stock has underperformed the market for the last three years, he is still here, still investing and in the first quarter of 2000 has seen the stock rise significantly. Buffet has consistently refused to invest in technology stocks because of lack of predictability. And he has stated on more than one occasion that he did not even understand the New Technology. At this writing, I know of no books that Warren Buffet has authored. We really don't know if Mr. Soros took his own advice on book number one, or was really able to read the markets over time as stated in book number one. Does he know something we don't? Only history will tell us who was right and whose investment philosophy will ultimately prevail.

Congratulation to Roger Crombie, FCA! At this time I would like to pay tribute to my friend, Roger, who won the Ridgeway Award for excellence in magazine journalism. Roger is the Pennywise columnist and frequent contributor to many magazines, newspapers and a book author. At last count, he had appeared in over 100 publications. Roger's dry wit and intelligent, articulate pieces have been featured in the MidOcean News for several years. He has also participated on many television panels with topics on re-insurance and the insurance industry.

Roger once told me that as a young man he was told by some totally insensitive bureaucrat that he had no talent for writing and might as well become an accountant. Roger chose to ignore this unsolicited advice and pursued both accountancy and journalism, formidably and admirably. It was Roger who encouraged me to write and in generous spirit invited me to become a guest columnist on his column.

Therefore, I pass on this favour so generously given. I invite investment advisors to contact me with any legitimate investment educational articles for feature from time to time as a guest columnist.

Analysts ratings after Black Friday: Looking at the mock portfolio, after yet again another very volatile week, the investment world is also finding out that part of the heavy volatility in the last couple of months may be due to both the Tiger Fund and George Soros selling off their high-tech holdings.

This is a truly formidable amount of money passing hands each day and could easily have affected the markets.

Looking at our pretend portfolio, none of the items have moved much. Everyone is battling to stay on even keel with the Dow and the NASDAQ rising and dropping 200-300 points in a day, a swing around of more than 600 points. A reminder again that this portfolio is not constructed to show how adept we are at beating the street. It is not a perfect portfolio, nor at this point, is it even a totally diversified one, but it does what we intended; to demonstrate the changes that occur in the market on a second by second basis.

We will keep the now dead-in-the-water tech stocks until end of June to see if they come back. Home Depot should pick up, particularly, if consumers decrease their shopping habits. They may then revert back to fixing up and making do, rather than something new! The Gap is gone as of next week. We will see if that is a smart play.

Did anyone have time to check the analyst's ratings on Bloomberg? I must apologise, for when I attempted to take my own instructions, the Bloomberg at the Washington Mall was not working. So, I went to the next best thing, the Internet. Readers, all of the stocks purchased on April 26 received strong buys or buys by 27 broker /analysts.

Has anyone purchased these stocks since the portfolio started? Has any reader used the Internet to purchase on-line? Share your experience with us, anonymously, of course. You may be interested in buying one of Mr. Soros' books. He'll be happy to get another $25 to add to his billions. Isn't it fun to read about the rich and famous? But what I want to know is, Is he really happy? Note: Under no circumstances does the information in this column represent a recommendation to buy or sell stocks or any other investments. Readers needing specific assistance should seek professional advice from their financial advisor.

Martha Myron CPA CA is a Bermudian, holds a Series 7 NASD license and is a United States federally authorized tax practitioner. She is Programming Chair for the International Association for Financial Planning-- Bermuda. Questions regarding this article may be sent to her at 234-0290 or Email: marthamyron y northrock.bm CHART Who's sorry now? After the recent market volatility, weatlhy global hedge fund manager and investor George Soros' loses alone are more than the total capital of the Bermuda Government.