Correction appended.

By the start of his 9 a.m. class, Weinberg freshman Brian Levin has begun watching his investments.

When the markets open, he checks his models to try to predict what will happen in the markets, and then starts formulating investment positions. He calls other professionals and traders on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade to see what they’re doing that day, or if there are any rumors going around the trading community. He adjusts his investment positions throughout the day until 3 p.m. when the equity market closes.

Levin has been investing since he was 13 years old. Three years ago, he took on clients and founded the hedge fund BDL Capital Advisors, which he still runs today — when he’s not in class. Levin has over forty clients, an office in Vernon Hills, IL, and a snazzy Web site. Despite the current economic downturn, 2008 was BDL Capital Advisors’ best year yet financially.

Levin’s investment career began with some early initiative.

Brian Levin’s daily schedule.
Graphic by Alan Boccadoro / NBN.

“A lot of it was independent research, my own curiosity. I started when I was thirteen just from reading and talking to people,” Levin said. Whenever there was something he wanted to learn, he would look it up himself, or go to the library to research. His friend and classmate, Weinberg freshman Andrew Levin (no relation), attested to Levin’s unusually inquisitive nature: “He is one of a kind in that he wants to know everything,” Andrew said. “If there is something he is unsure about he will admit that to you, research it and then know more about it than you do tomorrow.”

Once Levin learned enough to try the business himself, he invested his bar mitzvah money, and was soon practicing the strategies he would later employ as hedge fund manager. When he was 15, he decided to take on clients. “If I can do this better than someone that’s 20 years older than me,” Levin thought, “then why not?”

Levin’s description of his current work is simple: “I manage an investment fund of investor money.” The transition from investing his own capital to taking on clients was undramatic, he said, because of his experience. In fact, he has an advantage over older investors: “I don’t have to worry about paying bills and whatnot,” Levin said, which makes risk-taking a little easier.

Brian has also enjoyed success and recognition in other areas of his life, particularly academics. During the summer of 2006, Brian was the youngest student in a graduate-level international business course at Harvard Summer School, said Dr. Wendy Jeffus, his professor for that course.

“He sat on the front row and always arrived early to the lectures. Although he was a young student, he was a natural leader,” Jeffus said. The next year, she invited Levin back to the class to give a speech. “Brian not only accepted the challenge, but organized a group of students and led a high quality multimedia presentation,” Jeffus said. Levin also completed a thesis on systemic risk in the spring of 2007.

Back at high school, Levin received a perfect score on the ACT as well as a perfect GPA, and his accomplishments made it into a short Chicago Tribune piece in the spring of 2008.

Brian Levin. Tracy Fuad / NBN.

Throughout high school he had to be creative in the ways he juggled school and his career. He traded on the overnight markets in Europe and Japan, so that he could attend classes during the day.

Now that he’s in college, he no longer has to trade overnight: He simply schedules his classes in the morning and evening, setting aside about four hours each afternoon for research, clients and trading. In addition to managing BDL Capital Advisors, he also directs other businesses owned by his family. He often makes weekend business trips to places like Mexico and China during the academic year. Although he is constantly busy, he never gets too overwhelmed. “Of course there are times when you wish you could be in five places at the same time and talking to 10 people on the phone,” he said, “but overall I’ve learned to balance everything from doing this for the last several years.”

Levin continues to balance business with academics at Northwestern: “Most people his age who have done what he has done will think that they are the king of the world, but Brian knows he still has a lot to learn and does not get in over his head and he does not allow his businesses to affect his schoolwork,” his friend Andrew said. “He is the best student you will ever find. He has, as of yet, not gotten below an A on any assignment or test this year.”

Levin plans to continue with his company as a career, and he wants to grow his fund to attract institutional investors rather than private investors. He aspires to be like fellow Chicago-area hedge fund manager Kenneth C. Griffin, CEO of Citadel Investment Group, one of the largest hedge fund managers in the world. Levin said he would like to “follow in his footsteps, maybe even be bigger.”

His friend Andrew believes Levin is well on his way. “My father is a hedge fund manager and I am knowledgeable about the stock options business,” Andrew said. “I know loads of extremely wealthy and successful people in Brian’s field. However, he is above them.” Andrew said his father believes Levin has the potential to be “one of the very best in this business.”

“Given my dad’s 30 years of experience in the trading world in both Chicago and New York … this is definitely saying something,” Andrew said.

According to Jeffus, Levin succeeds not only because of his business prowess, but because of his ability to foster friendships with many different people. “I think Mr. Levin’s global network will prove to be invaluable over his lifetime,” Jeffus said. “During the summer session he met students from over 20 countries and has maintained a connection with many of his former classmates.”

Both in the world of business and in everyday social interactions, Levin makes a big impact, Andrew said. “He is the most impressive teenager I have ever met for his business savvy, his genius and his devotion to our friendship,” he said.

“Even when he is away on business trips in Mexico and Panama, as he has been during the school year, he is texting me or calling me or emailing me to see what’s going on in Allison Hall and how our friends are doing or whatever.”

Correction: The original article incorrectly stated Jeffus’s class was in the Harvard Business School. It is in the Harvard Summer School. North by Northwestern regrets the error.