The Real Performance of Hedge Funds
Executive Summary
- Hedge funds are supposedly the “smart money.”
- However, hedge fund performance does not match the hype.
Introduction
The performance of hedge funds versus how much they charge investors are covered in the following quotation.
“In 2012, hedge funds removed $50.5B from their investors’ pockets. In fact, according to an article in Jacobin Magazine, the top 25 hedge fund managers make more money than the CEOs of all S&P 500 companies combined. Combined! Have they earned it? Well, the answer seems to be no. I pulled the last four years of return data for two hedge fund indices: the Barclays Hedge Fund Index and the Credit Suisse All Hedge Index.
These two indices track thousands of hedge funds across the globe. I compared them with the returns of the Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund and the Vanguard Total World Bond Market Index Fund as well as a 50/50 portfolio of the two Vanguard Funds. All returns shown are net of fees. First, over 10 years the returns for hedge funds are atrocious, only about 25% in total. They do have a point that the draw downs are lower.
The maximum losses experienced during the downturn only averaged about 25%. Fine, but the Vanguard Total Bond Market Index had barely any draw downs during the crisis and returned over 50% during a similar time period.”
Source: New Economic Perspectives
http://neweconomicperspectives.org/2014/03/financial-sector-greatest-parasite-human-history.html