Saturday, January 9, 2016

What About Hedge Fund?

I have heard and read generally about hedge fund which is managed by companies whose managers are well versed in rather complicated investing strategies and instruments. This kind of investing was rather "hush-hush" in that only a few people in your circle of friends would know about it and would persuade you to go into it by telling how much money they have made over the period they have been investing. And one has to have a rather large sum to go into this investment which is in US dollars.

A close relative had made money in hedge fund investing since the early 90s and had encouraged me to go into it. Apparently certain hedge fund had made 64000% returns for their investors from 1995 to 2011. Many rich people have become richer. Despite the high risks like political turmoils and financial volatility, the funds were performing brilliantly.

In 2008 I foolishly invested in a structured fund (capital-protected) for a three-year maturity period and by the end of it in 2011, I received zero returns on my investment. I was very upset as had I put the money in an ASNB fund I would have been able to enjoy reasonably good returns during the period. I calculated my losses regretfully. Then I took a risk of investing in a hedge fund based then in Hong Kong. By 2014 I recouped my losses on the blinking structured fund  along with a decent gain and decided to exit as the fund started to charge 20% on redemption. But the ride was breathless and being paid in US dollars was exhilarating because you then get at least three times the returns calculated in Ringgit.

The hedge fund manager who has more than 20 years' experience has since stopped the fund and presently embarked on Money Markets with different investing strategies but I have had enough of the high returns and would rather put my fund locally. The hotshot manager talked about the different scenarios resulting from more stringent regulations following the GFC in 2008 and it seemed these new ballgames have gradually affected the previous high returns. His hedge fund is not the only one to call it a day, please refer to the source below and read all about the current problems of investing in hedge fund when economic and financial data are no longer reliable hence affecting market predictions.

Credit: Stockman @contra corner
This is the highly successful hedge fund I was talking about earlier, Martin Taylor's Nevsky Capital emerging-markets fund. The days of high returns are over.

Needless to say the choice of investment products have a lot to do with one's method of investing. If you have a wealth advisor, you could well go into greater diversification but some of us would feel uncomfortable with such an arrangement and would prefer to do our own thing. On that note, I am currently more into Unit Trust Funds while waiting for the headwind to blow over...


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