The stock market is a simply amazing organization when it comes to creativity. Take hedge funds for example, they're not exactly mutual funds, and they're not exchange traded funds either. Technically, a hedge fund is defined as a private investment fund. They are usually organized as limited partnerships, and often employ non-traditional investment strategies. This means they often shy away from approaches that involve long-term buying and holding of securities in a portfolio.
Hedge funds have been around since the late 1940s. In their early days, these funds were used to reduce market risk, by selling short some stocks then buying others at the same time. Today, some hedge funds don't even include stocks in their portfolio, so they've certainly evolved over time.
Hedge Funds and Mutual Funds
Whenever the stock market is under performing, whispers of hedge funds start to be heard. The word "hedging" itself implies taking a defensive position, or placing an insurance "bet" to balance against down markets. The past decade has seen a pretty flat stock market, and a corresponding rise in interest in these funds. As of February 2018, there were approximately 9,000 hedge funds managing roughly $3.5 trillion in assets.
Performance
There are several published studies that found hedge funds will outperform their mutual fund counterparts in bear markets. As is the case with any security, investors should understand the balance of risks and rewards. In the sections below, we'll review the differences between hedge funds and mutual funds. Later on, we'll also examine a fund with a funny name: a fund of hedge funds.
Hedge Funds versus Mutual Funds
Just like mutual funds, a hedge fund pools money from various investors in an effort to provide acceptable returns. However, unlike mutual funds, most hedge funds are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission. This means they do not have to abide by their reporting requirements, and the SEC does not provide the investor with any degree of regulatory oversight. As mentioned earlier, hedge funds are considered private investment vehicles, and are restricted to accredited individuals with net worth in excess of $1 million, or an income in excess of $200,000 per year. Qualified purchasers can also join hedge funds if they own at least $5,000,000 in qualified investments.
Hedge funds are not registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which means they do not have to abide by their reporting requirements.Moneyzine Editor
Hedge funds have a limited number of investors in each group, typically less than 500. That's why they are organized into limited partnerships. There is no limit on the fees these funds can charge, and many have generous performance incentives for the fund managers in addition to standard management fees.
Management Fees
If successful, starting a hedge fund can be very rewarding for the fund's management team. The fund manager is sometimes referred to as a "general partner," and this position is responsible for making investment decisions that are aligned with the fund's overall strategy. The normal payment arrangement for a manager is to receive one or both of the following:
Management Fees: usually based on a percentage of the fund's assets. Management fees are often in the range of 2% of assets.
Performance Incentives: the payment of incentives is usually tied to a performance threshold, and based on a measure of the fund's profitability. Incentives can be quite high for a profitable fund, and fees in excess of 20% are possible.
Investing in Hedge Funds
Hedge funds offer the investor less liquidity when compare to mutual funds. Often there is a short window of opportunity to invest or close out a position; this timeframe can be quarterly or even annually. Hedge funds are not limited to a single class of investment such as stocks. They can utilize instruments such as financial leverage, derivatives, short selling, commodities, and they can even take a large position in just a single company.
Fund of Hedge Fund
A fund of hedge funds closes some of the gaps between hedge funds and mutual funds. Most of these funds have a lower minimum investment; typically, in the range of $25,000. The idea behind a fund of hedge funds is to lower the risk of a single hedge fund by creating a portfolio of hedge funds. Some funds of hedge funds are registered with the SEC. If registered, they are required to provide investors with a prospectus and file semi-annual reports; just like a mutual fund. Unfortunately, a fund of funds can also carry with it an additional layer of management fees. In addition to paying the fees mentioned above, an additional 1 to 2% of assets might be paid to the fund managers as well as added performance incentives.
Basics of Hedge Fund Offerings
The bulleted list below outlines some of the factors an investor needs to understand before deciding to invest in a hedge fund or a fund of hedge funds:
Risk and Reward: In a perfect market there is a balance. If the rewards are high, then significant risk exists too.
Asset Valuation: Since hedge funds can place money into investment vehicles such as derivatives, these assets are often hard to value accurately. It's important to understand how these valuations are calculated by the fund.
Fees: This has been discussed in our article on no load mutual funds, and the same rationale applies here. Management fees can have a significant impact on the total return on investment. Hedge funds include both management fees and generous performance-based incentives.
Redemption Policy: Liquidity can also be a problem. Investors might get locked into a one-year term or have limited opportunity to enter and exit the fund. It's important to understand the policy on exiting the investment.
Because of the way these funds can be structured, do not expect to automatically get the same protections offered by mainstream investments. The SEC and other securities agencies may only have a limited ability to monitor the activities of the fund. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Check out the track record of the fund manager, and be skeptical of inconsistent patterns.
Additional Resources
An index fund is, by its very nature, a well diversified portfolio of stocks. Buying an index fund provides investors with an opportunity to diversify away the risk associated with individual stocks; thereby lowering the overall risk of their investment portfolio.Moneyzine EditorNovember 6th, 2024- An exchange traded fund, or ETF, might best be described as a hybrid between a share of common stock and a mutual fund. In fact, because of the way ETFs are structured, they present some interesting options to both the novice and seasoned investor.Moneyzine EditorSeptember 20th, 2023
Anyone interested in the oil and natural gas industry should be familiar with two very interesting exchange-traded funds: DIG and DUG. Given the historical volatility in the prices of crude oil and natural gas, investing in these two industries is a speculative play. But that's the intriguing part of DIG and DUG. In this article, we're going to talk about two ETFs that allow investors to trade in two energy products without taking a position in the commodities market. Part of that discussion will include a brief explanation of exchange-traded funds, followed by a specific discussion of DIG and DUG....Moneyzine EditorJanuary 16th, 2024
As of November 2020, money market mutual funds account for nearly 1,000 of the more than 8,000 mutual funds available to investors. Even more impressive is the fact that money market assets account for around 20% of all mutual fund assets. That's nearly $4.35 trillion invested in money market funds alone. By law, a money market fund is defined as a mutual fund that is required to invest in low-risk securities. This means these funds are relatively low-risk investments compared to other types of mutual funds. They also pay dividends to shareholders that are aligned with short-term interest rates.Moneyzine EditorFebruary 8th, 2024
