No Hedge Funds, No Cry

Abstract

Hedge funds raise capital largely from institutional investors. Small individual investors may feel left out but probably do not realize what a blessing that really is. Simple strategies way within their reach have outperformed hedge funds in terms of return and risk-adjusted return over the last 10, 15, and 20 years. Worse still, neither hedge funds really provide investors with returns uncorrelated to stocks nor do they protect portfolios from losses, at least as well as gold does, in turbulent times.

Keywords: Hedge funds, 60-40 strategy, asset allocation, private equity

JEL Classification: G11