The 10 Biggest Myths About the Hedge Fund Industry

First off, I am not anti-hedge fund nor do I want to cast a negative light on any investment vehicle. However, to inform people that not everything they believe to be true about hedge funds is, true. Although they don't apply to all funds, these are the top ten myths for 'average' hedge funds.

  1. Hedge funds are absolute-return vehicles.
  2. Hedge funds are nimble market-timers.
  3. Shorting generates alpha.
  4. Today’s stars will be tomorrow’s also.
  5. Hedge funds shine in volatile markets.
  6. Replication doesn’t work.
  7. Only net-of-fee returns matter.
  8. Stock selection drives performance.
  9. Hedge funds are long value stocks and short growth.
  10. Fee structure of 2/20 aligns incentives.

What are your thoughts about these myths? Would you want to challenge any of them? Some seem to be debatable whereas others are spot on.

Source

7 Comments
 
Best Response
  1. no comment
  2. disagree - Smaller hedge funds are, large hedge funds by design can't be nimble
  3. no comment
  4. agree to an extent
  5. disagree - some do some don't
  6. no comment
  7. strongly disagree - focus on your returns not what a manger is earning (not saying 2/20 is best but thats a seperate conversation
  8. disagree to an extent - depends on strategy
  9. no comment - situational
  10. agree - forces managers to take on out sized risks, especially in down years / also leads to assets aggregation, which is makes a fund less nimble, which I'd argue is hard to beat the market
 

I'm scratching my head. Maybe these are myths to the average american? Don't think I've ever heard a reasonably educated investor lay claim to most of these. Maybe I'm just hanging out with the wrong (right?) people

 

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"Some things are believed because they are demonstrably true. But many other things are believed simply because they have been asserted repeatedly—and repetition has been accepted as a substitute for evidence." - Thomas Sowell

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