FXstreet.com

1

0

Hedge Fund Investing

Mon, Oct 26 2009, 11:01 GMT
by Monty Agarwal

Money and Markets


Hedge funds and the managers who run them have been getting a lot of publicity lately — and not of the flattering kind.

We have massive Ponzi schemes, equally massive losses and outsized systemic risks that are enough to frighten away even the hardiest of investors.

So before you leap, you need to look — carefully and deeply into this industry. When you do, however, you'll also find that there's a lot more to hedge funds than has been making it into the evening news ...

Hedge funds are an integral part of our financial investment landscape. They often outperform the broad stock market by wide margins. Many are designed to make money in ANY market environment. And they are now more accessible to investors via a fast-growing new vehicle — funds of hedge funds.

This morning, I'll give you a basic primer on hedge funds to help you decide if these unique investments are possibly right for you. And in the future, I'll introduce you to specific funds — and strategies they use — for successful global investing.

What Are Hedge Funds?

The first hedge fund came out in 1949 as a strategy to neutralize the effect of overall market movements on a portfolio.

The strategy was simply to buy stocks that were expected to rise and selling short stocks expected to fall. The concept was to add BALANCE — to produce returns that were not market-dependent and tended to hedge a portfolio's market exposure.

Nowadays, that has changed in a very fundamental way: Besides protecting a portfolio from downside risk, hedge funds often go for maximum return by deploying large amounts of leverage and investing in several asset classes among global markets.

Who Invests in Hedge Funds?

Hedge funds are private partnerships that are open to a limited number of investors, with qualification criteria determined by the SEC. To get into one, you'll need to prove you have a net worth greater than $1 million and meet a minimum income requirement.

The reason for these stringent requirements is simple: The SEC feels that hedge funds are riskier and less transparent than mutual funds and most other investments.

Beyond high-net-worth individuals, institutional investors are also a dominant force behind the rising popularity of hedge funds. Two such groups are ...

  • 1. Pension Funds
    Unfortunately, U.S. corporate and government pension funds rarely have enough money in their kitty to cover all their expected future liabilities to their members. In fact, assuming the most likely future scenario, the expected shortfall is almost $1.5 trillion!
    This is a major reason why pension fund managers have reached beyond traditional investment vehicles to seek outsized returns. And many fund managers think hedge funds are the best places to find them.
    Estimates vary. But up to 20 percent of European and American pension funds — plus 40 percent of Japanese pensions — are believed to invest in hedge funds.
    Two prime examples: As of January 2, 2009, the two largest government pension funds investing in hedge funds were the California Public Employees' Retirement System with a total market value of $188 billion and the Ontario Teachers Pension Plan with $108 billion in net assets.
  • 2. Endowments
    Endowments include colleges and universities as well as charitable institutions. And in the latest National Association of College and University Business Officers Endowment Study, hedge funds made up 18 percent of college and university portfolios on a dollar-weighted basis. This puts hedge funds second only to stocks (with a 48 percent allocation).
    Additionally, the data reveals another not-so-surprising trend: The larger the institution, the higher the percentage of assets invested in hedge funds.
    Even assuming no hanky-panky, the risks are clear. But don't ignore ...

Four Key Benefits Of Investing in Hedge Funds

  • Benefit #1 — True diversification across multiple asset classes. Hedge funds operate in any and every asset class imaginable, from the traditional equities and bonds to currencies, commodities, real estate, and even fine art.
  • Benefit #2 —True global diversification. While most of the strategies used by hedge fund managers are concentrated in developed countries, there are funds focused on the emerging markets of Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. I'm also seeing hedge funds foray into frontier markets — extremely underdeveloped markets of Africa and the Middle East.
  • Benefit #3 — Non-correlation with traditional investments. The instruments used by hedge funds are diverse. Hedge funds can utilize futures, swaps, and options. This allows them to produce returns that vary wildly from those of broad markets and more common investments.
  • Benefit #4 — The concept of absolute returns. Hedge funds exist to make money in any market environment. They're not content to help you "lose less money than the averages." They make their fees only if they give you a positive absolute return. This is a very powerful incentive. It's backed by years of solid performance. And I think it's the main reason the hedge fund industry has been attracting capital from all kinds of investors.

The following chart shows the annualized returns from 1997 to 2008 of various hedge fund strategies as compared to the S&P 500 index.

chart

Among six of the most widely used hedge fund strategies, five have greatly outperformed the S&P 500 Index; only one fell short.

Clearly, if you are qualified for a hedge fund — or a fund of hedge funds — and you can gain the knowledge to help you avoid the pitfalls, this is not a track record you can afford to ignore.

Weiss Research, Inc  | 15430 Endeavour Drive. Jupiter, FL 33478-6400 - USA
http://www.moneyandmarkets.com | eletter@moneyandmarkets.com

Legal disclaimer and risk disclosure

Money and Markets e-newsletter is published by Weiss Research, Inc. Weiss Research, Inc. is strictly a research publishing firm and does not provide individual investment advice to its subscribers. The information we publish is based on our opinions plus our statistical and financial data and independent research. Although we make every effort to provide the most accurate and updated information possible, our information cannot take into consideration your personal finances and goals, and therefore is not intended to be used as customized recommendation to buy, hold, or sell securities, or engage in any trading strategy. Such recommendations may only be made by a personal advisor or the broker you select. Most investments involve risk of loss. Although this service makes every effort to protect your principal, you can lose money. Therefore, it is not for all of your funds. If your goal for a certain portion of your funds is strictly capital preservation, we believe you should invest those funds in conservative investments such as short-term U.S. Treasury securities or equivalent. For more information on prudent investing, see also the information available at the websites of the Securities and Exchange Commission at www.sec.gov and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority at www.finra.org. Most of the information we publish is derived from primary sources, including the U.S. government agencies as well as the financial institutions or publicly traded companies we cover. We believe our data sources are accurate, but we do not verify their accuracy independently. Therefore, we cannot assure you that the information is accurate or complete. Nor do we guarantee the success of any investment decision you may make using our data, information, or recommendations. To help us track the performance of this service, subscribers are asked to give their brokers’ permission to share statements with us strictly for the purpose of substantiating the results of the trading. If broker documents are available on a particular trade, we use them to calculate the net, after-commission profits on the trade. Naturally, the results of each subscriber may differ depending on the actual prices achieved and the commissions paid. If broker documents are not available on a trade, we estimate the pre-commission gains based on the market prices following the publication of each recommendation. In addition, examples of potential performance returns may sometimes be based on simulated — not actual — trades, assuming entry and exit prices that could have been obtained during regular market conditions. These entry and exit prices calculated do not reflect or include costs of spreads, market delays, or fees and commissions. Similar returns may or may not be actually achieved by subscribers. While every effort is made to evaluate the actual experience of subscribers, most performance figures must be considered hypothetical, and past results are no guarantee of future performance. Hypothetical or simulated performance results have certain inherent limitations. Unlike an actual performance record, simulated results do not represent actual trading. Also, since the trades have not actually been executed, the results may have under- or over-compensated for the impact, if any, of certain market factors, such as lack of liquidity. Simulated trading programs in general are also subject to the fact that they are designed with the benefit of hindsight. No representation is being made that any account will or is likely to achieve profits or losses similar to those shown. References to examples of past performance are not intended to provide a total picture of portfolio results. Your results may vary considerably depending on a series of factors, including: (a) when you begin or cease investing, (b) which recommendations you choose to act on, (c) how much money you choose to invest in each recommendation, (d) the specific prices you get, (e) the broker commissions you pay, (f) the interest income you earn on uninvested funds, and (g) the number and magnitude of losing or winning trades you experience. With the exception of exempt securities such as government securities and mutual funds, all Weiss Group, Inc. and Weiss Research, Inc. personnel are prohibited from purchasing any security or investment that is recommended in its publications, per the company’s Personal Securities Transaction (PST) policy. LIMITATION ON WEISS RESEARCH’S LIABILITY Weiss Research’s liability, whether in contract, tort, negligence, or otherwise, shall be limited in the aggregate to direct and actual damages not to exceed the fees received by Weiss from Subscriber. Weiss will not be liable for consequential, incidental, punitive, special, exemplary, or indirect damages resulting directly or indirectly from the use of or reliance upon any material provided by Weiss. Without limitation, Weiss shall not be responsible or liable for any loss or damages related to, either directly or indirectly, (1) any decline in market value or loss of any investment; (2) a subscriber’s inability to use or any delay in accessing the Weiss website or any other source of material provided by Weiss; (3) any absence of material on the Weiss website; (4) Weiss’ failure to deliver or delay in delivering any material or (5) any kind of error in transmission of material; or (6) the use by a subscriber of any research to invest in any way which may be deemed unsuitable in accordance with certain industry standards. Weiss and Subscriber acknowledge that, without limitation, the above-enumerated conditions cannot be the probable cause of any breach of any agreement between Weiss and Subscriber. "No-risk" and "risk-free" refer solely to the subscription price refund policy. DISCLAIMER OF WARRANTY ANY AND ALL MATERIAL PROVIDED BY WEISS IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND WEISS MAKES NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANT ABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.


Interested in forex trading? forex brokerage firms!


ACM Advanced Currency Markets SA
Contact the broker/FDM
Open a demo account
MG Financial Group
Contact the broker/FDM
Open a demo account
IG Markets
Contact the broker/FDM
Open a demo account
Saxo Bank A/S
Contact the broker/FDM
Open a demo account
Forex Club Financial Company
Contact the broker/FDM
Open a demo account

GET CASH BACK FOR YOUR TRADES!   Learn more about the Pip Rebate Program

Note: All information on this page is subject to change. The use of this website constitutes acceptance of our user agreement. Please read our privacy policy and legal disclaimer.

Trading foreign exchange on margin carries a high level of risk and may not be suitable for all investors. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. Before deciding to trade foreign exchange you should carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience and risk appetite. The possibility exists that you could sustain a loss of some or all of your initial investment and therefore you should not invest money that you cannot afford to lose. You should be aware of all the risks associated with foreign exchange trading and seek advice from an independent financial advisor if you have any doubts.

Opinions expressed at FXstreet.com are those of the individual authors and do not necessarily represent the opinion of FXstreet.com or its management. FXstreet.com has not verified the accuracy or basis-in-fact of any claim or statement made by any independent author: errors and Omissions may occur.

Any opinions, news, research, analyses, prices or other information contained on this website, by FXstreet.com, its employees, partners or contributors, is provided as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice. FXstreet.com will not accept liability for any loss or damage, including without limitation to, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on such information.

©2009 "FXstreet.com. The Forex Market" All Rights Reserved.