View source for Daniel Calugar

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| name               = Daniel Calugar {{verified}}
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| nationality        = American
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| citizenship        = United States
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| alma_mater         = University of Florida
| occupation         = Investor
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| organization       = Paceline Capital, LLC
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'''Daniel Calugar''' is an American investor with academic and professional backgrounds in computer science, business, and law. His ability to write computer programs has given him an advantage in the technical analysis needed to identify profitable investment opportunities. Dan is also a fitness enthusiast and pilot.<ref>{{cite web |title=Daniel Calugar - Crunchbase Person Profile |url=https://www.crunchbase.com/person/daniel-calugar |website=Crunchbase |access-date=12 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Daniel Calugar - Investor |url=https://ideamensch.com/daniel-calugar/ |website=ideamensch.com |access-date=12 August 2021 |date=25 September 2020}}</ref>
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Calugar has been featured in numerous media outlets such as News Credit, Healthcare Business Today, Omega Underground, EIN News, StreetWise Journal, Market Watch, Tech Bullion, Globe News Wire, PR Web, and others.<ref>{{cite web |title=marketwatch |url=https://www.marketwatch.com/press-release/the-daniel-calugar-finance-scholarship-is-still-accepting-applications-2021-05-06?tesla=y |website=marketwatch |access-date=12 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=einnews |url=https://www.einnews.com/pr_news/546257273/daniel-calugar-explains-2021-s-trends-and-challenges-in-algorithmic-trading |website=einnews |access-date=12 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=About Dan Calugar |url=https://www.dancalugarscholarship.com/about-dan-calugar |website=Daniel Calugar Finance Scholarship {{!}} Apply Now |access-date=12 August 2021 |language=en}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Dan understood the value of education and hard work early on in life. While growing up, Calugar was a straight A’s student, thanks to the influence of his 4th-grade teacher, Mr. Marble. Calugar participated in several extracurricular activities such as gymnastics, cross country, and track during his high school years.

After graduating from high school, Calugar was determined to become an Air Force pilot. He prepared diligently for a  3-hour math exam that Congressman Bennett used for cadet selection, and Florida Congressman Charles Bennett nominated him to become an Air Force Academy cadet. While at the Academy, Calugar completed his academic classes with straight A’s and majored in computer science. He gained excellent computer programming skills at that time, which he eventually used to become a successful investor. Unfortunately, his eyesight had deteriorated by the conclusion of his sophomore year at the Academy, and he was unable to qualify for flight school. Rather than becoming a desk-bound Air Force officer, he chose to leave the Academy and seek a career in law.

Leaving the Air Force Academy, Dan completed his final two years of college in a single year. He acquired his degree in business from the University of North Florida with a 4.0-grade point average. Dan started law school at the University of Florida in 1974 and graduated in the top 5% of his class in 1977. Soon after that, he earned an LLM in Taxation in 1978.

==Career==
In 1978, Calugar started working as a pension lawyer at the Atlanta law firm of Hinkle & Layman. During his time there, Calugar became fascinated with investment management and paired that interest with his passion for computer science. He began writing programs in Lotus 123 and used them to analyze vast amounts of data for trading strategies. In 1984 Calugar became a partner in the law firm. He “incorporated” his partnership interest which allowed him to set up his own tax-qualified profit-sharing plan, giving him control over the investments for his account.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Scholarship |first1=Dan Calugar Finance |title=Investor Daniel Calugar Announces Finance Scholarship |url=https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/10/13/2107882/0/en/Investor-Daniel-Calugar-Announces-Finance-Scholarship.html |website=GlobeNewswire News Room |access-date=12 August 2021 |language=en |date=13 October 2020}}</ref>

All stock trades made by attorneys had to be preapproved by the law firm’s conflicts committee, so Dan’s stock investment trading options were limited.  Consequently, Dan pursued analysis of trading of mutual funds, which he was free to trade without preapproval by the conflicts committee. He used computer analysis to devise a strategy to time market segments. Dan realized that there were significant advantages in trading mutual funds.  Mutual fund exchanges were commission-free, had zero bid/asked spreads, and had perfect liquidity because all trades are priced at the same daily NAV.  There is no other investible asset class that offers these three distinct advantages, each of which are very valuable to a short-term trader.  In the 80s and 90s, stock spreads were substantially wider than they are today, providing a significant arbitrage opportunity.  Dan decided to trade being a tax partner at Jones Day to being a full-time algorithmic investor to take full advantage of the opportunity.<ref>{{cite web |title=Dan Calugar on How to Balance Saving Vs. Investing When on a Budget |url=https://sundial.csun.edu/164119/sundialbrandstudio/sundial-marketplace/dan-calugar-on-how-to-balance-saving-vs-investing-when-on-a-budget/ |website=The Sundial |access-date=12 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=TechBullion |first1=Angela Scott-Briggs |title=Dan Calugar on Money in the Palm of Your Hand: the Pros and Cons of Investment Apps |url=https://techbullion.com/dan-calugar-on-money-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-the-pros-and-cons-of-investment-apps/ |website=TechBullion |access-date=12 August 2021 |date=3 April 2021}}</ref>

Throughout his career of over three decades, Calugar has produced a net compounded average annual percentage return on investment of over 30% on all securities traded. After his initial work with mutual fund timing, his investments included mortgage-backed securities, volatility trading, and algorithmic futures trading. He still writes computer programs to analyze data and identify the most profitable trading strategies.<ref>{{cite web |title=Daniel Calugar outlines 7 benefits of starting to invest at a young age – DU Clarion |url=https://duclarion.com/2021/06/daniel-calugar-outlines-7-benefits-of-starting-to-invest-at-a-young-age/ |website=duclarion.com |access-date=12 August 2021}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=TechBullion |first1=Angela Scott-Briggs |title=Dan Calugar on Money in the Palm of Your Hand: the Pros and Cons of Investment Apps |url=https://techbullion.com/dan-calugar-on-money-in-the-palm-of-your-hand-the-pros-and-cons-of-investment-apps/ |website=TechBullion |access-date=12 August 2021 |date=3 April 2021}}</ref>

==Personal life==
Calugar began taking flight lessons in 2002 and earned his private pilot license, instrument rating, and ATP rating. He owns an Eclipse jet and has roughly 1600 hours of single-pilot flight time as of 2021. In addition, he has completed over 200 volunteer missions for Angel Flight West and Angel Flight Southeast, providing free non-emergency air transportation for medical treatment, primarily to cancer patients.

Dan has invested an enormous amount of time and effort to become a successful investor but realizes that success in life requires not only effort but also both opportunity and timing.  Calugar says he is grateful to God for the opportunities he has had in life. 

Calugar is an avid fitness enthusiast and has continued to maintain his physical fitness throughout adult life by running and lifting weights.

==External links==
* [https://www.dancalugarscholarship.com/ Official website]

==References==
[[Category:American investors]]
[[Category:American academics]]
[[Category:University of Florida alumni]]