Is it worth investing in hedge funds?
Hedge funds offer the potential for high returns and diversification benefits, but they also come at the cost of higher fees and less regulatory oversight. As with any investment, you should do your own research to determine whether they make sense for your portfolio.
Hedge funds tend to have specific characteristics and features. They require wealth to participate. Hedge funds typically require an investor to have a liquid net worth of at least $1 million, or annual income of more than $200,000. They often borrow money to use in an investment.
Hedge funds make money by charging a management fee and a percentage of profits. The typical fee structure is 2 and 20, meaning a 2% fee on assets under management and 20% of profits, sometimes above a high water mark. For example, let's say a hedge fund manages $1 billion in assets. It will earn $20 million in fees.
It is not uncommon for a hedge fund to require at least $100,000 or even as much as $1 million to participate. Unlike mutual funds, hedge funds avoid many of the regulations and requirements within the Securities Act of 1933.
But lately, Wall Street has been wondering if hedge funds have reached Peak Pod. Returns dropped markedly at many multistrats in 2023. The average fund in the class returned 5.4%—even as the Nasdaq Composite and the S&P 500 cranked out total returns of 45% and 26%, respectively.
The recent Forbes 400 (richest American billionaires) list has about 112 people, by my count, who made their fortunes in some form of Finance, Investments, Hedge Funds, insurance or banking.
Hedge funds seem to rake in billions of dollars a year for their professional investment acumen and portfolio management across a range of strategies. Hedge funds make money as part of a fee structure paid by fund investors based on assets under management (AUM).
Successful hedge fund managers tend to be highly paid and can be worth billions of dollars.
One of the reasons for the perceived high failure rate of hedge funds is that their attrition rate is known to be high, approximately 9% per annum. The latter rate is generally estimated by counting the number of defunct funds in hedge fund databases.
Last year's Top 50 funds (based on trailing five-year returns through 2021) proved their value by having outperformed the S&P 500 in 2022 by nearly 24 percentage points. More than two thirds of the funds from that select list qualified for this year's group, affirming their consistent performance.
Which hedge fund has the highest return?
Its sources include meetings with firm executives, audited and management reports, and other sources, it says. Billionaire Ken Griffin's Citadel remained in pole position in 2023, with $74 billion in gains since its creation in 1990.
The 2 and 20 is a hedge fund compensation structure consisting of a management fee and a performance fee. 2% represents a management fee which is applied to the total assets under management. A 20% performance fee is charged on the profits that the hedge fund generates, beyond a specified minimum threshold.
You generally must be an accredited investor, which means having a minimum level of income or assets, to invest in hedge funds. Typical investors include institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, and wealthy individuals.
Some of the disadvantages of investing in hedge funds include high fees, lack of transparency, and higher volatility. Hedge funds can also be more complex and harder to understand than private equity investments.
First, the hedge fund mortality rate in this sample is estimated at 8.43 per cent per year which is twice the size of those reported in mutual fund studies. We find that 59 per cent of hedge funds at the start of the sample do not survive the full sample period.
Hedge funds originated as a vehicle to help diversify investment portfolios, manage risk and produce reliable returns over time. While hedge funds' investor base has evolved though the years – from individuals to institutions such as pensions, universities and foundations – their core goals have remained the same.
In short, Warren Buffett is not a hedge fund manager, and Berkshire Hathaway is not a hedge fund. Buffett is one of the few billionaires who amassed a fortune by building a successful business and managing a stock portfolio simultaneously.
Overall, the consensus is that hedge funds will continue to grow but will adapt to lower fees, greater use of technology, and increased access to retail investors.
To invest in hedge funds as an individual, you must be an institutional investor, like a pension fund, or an accredited investor. Accredited investors have a net worth of at least $1 million, not including the value of their primary residence, or annual individual incomes over $200,000 ($300,000 if you're married).
Therefore, an investor in a hedge fund is commonly regarded as an accredited investor. This means that they meet a required minimum level of income or assets. Typical investors are institutional investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, and wealthy individuals.
Do hedge fund managers make millions?
The top individual Portfolio Managers can earn hundreds of millions or billions each year. Hedge funds offer a much higher pay ceiling than investment banking, (sometimes) better hours and work/life balance, and the chance to do more interesting work.
If you want a hedge fund job, you'll typically need to have an excellent academic record and – if you want to be an analyst or a portfolio manager – you'll need to be no stranger to very hard work. “The game has gotten much harder,” says Colin Lancaster.
BlackRock manages US$38bn across a broad range of hedge fund strategies. With over 20 years of proven experience, the depth and breadth of our platform has evolved into a comprehensive toolkit of 30+ strategies.
The median manager earned $570 million — the fourth best in 22 years — and the seven highest earners all made at least $1 billion. The top earner was Ken Griffin, founder of multistrategy giant Citadel. He personally made $4.1 billion — the most any hedge fund manager has ever earned in the history of the Rich List.
Be careful with hedge funds
There are a few warnings that come along with investments in hedge funds. The first is cost. Hedge funds often have high fees. A 2% management fee and 20% performance fee are not uncommon.
