Investment process at a fund of funds

Can someone who works in FoF describe their investment process? My (cursory) understanding is you talk to managers, make notes, run the correlations between historical returns, apply some academic finance theory, and construct a portfolio of managers.

Is this really the process? Having interviewed for a lot of traditional hedge fund teams, one thing I like to figure out is whether they have a good machine for making money, good reasons for their investment process to work going forward. Strong historical returns are nice but not a sufficient condition, especially because investment processes tend to evolve over time (e.g. the Citadel today is likely not the same Citadel that lost about half in the crisis).

The job (properly done) seems to be approximately the same as what you'd do at an endowment, family office, pension fund, or even business development at a multi-manager platform (their job is to pick new PMs to bring on board and allocate capital to). How easy is it to move from one to the other?

How do you think the rigor of selecting managers at a FoF compares to that of a biz dev team at a multi-manager picking new PMs? Is there a reason the FoF business model has any reason to continue being viable, given the rise of multi-manager platforms?

2 Comments
 
Most Helpful

In error vitae quo. Quod ipsam voluptatem repellat dignissimos possimus. Qui voluptas ipsa amet incidunt.

Reprehenderit est repellat aut occaecati optio excepturi. Officiis velit cupiditate a molestiae. Aut saepe nemo adipisci asperiores fugit error voluptates. Veritatis eum sit consequatur. Quia maiores repellat veritatis est rem deleniti nostrum. Officia facilis accusamus quae voluptatem adipisci est hic.

Odit quia assumenda officiis voluptas molestias impedit sequi harum. Nostrum reiciendis dolores vitae eligendi. Architecto sed dicta et soluta. Repudiandae numquam labore tempore. Atque distinctio aut non.

Career Advancement Opportunities

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Point72 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • AQR Capital Management 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.0%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Magnetar Capital 99.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 98.0%
  • Blackstone Group 97.0%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.0%
  • Two Sigma Investments 94.9%

Professional Growth Opportunities

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • AQR Capital Management 99.0%
  • Point72 98.0%
  • D.E. Shaw 97.1%
  • Citadel Investment Group 96.1%
  • Magnetar Capital 95.1%

Total Avg Compensation

October 2026 Hedge Fund

  • Portfolio Manager (9) $1,648
  • Vice President (27) $464
  • Director/MD (12) $355
  • NA (9) $320
  • Engineer/Quant (83) $287
  • 3rd+ Year Associate (26) $284
  • Manager (4) $282
  • 2nd Year Associate (32) $253
  • 1st Year Associate (76) $193
  • Analysts (235) $177
  • Intern/Summer Associate (29) $145
  • Junior Trader (5) $102
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (276) $95
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

1
redever's picture
redever
99.2
2
BankonBanking's picture
BankonBanking
99.0
3
kanon's picture
kanon
99.0
4
Secyh62's picture
Secyh62
99.0
5
DrApeman's picture
DrApeman
98.9
6
GameTheory's picture
GameTheory
98.9
7
dosk17's picture
dosk17
98.9
8
CompBanker's picture
CompBanker
98.9
9
Betsy Massar's picture
Betsy Massar
98.9
10
Mimbs's picture
Mimbs
98.8
success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”