Look to the long term

Over the last decade hedge funds have become readily available to the retail investor and diversified portfolios are often constructed with exposure to alternative investments alongside traditional asset classes such as equities and fixed income. Traditional long only investment funds operate in a relative return environment where performance is measured against a predefined benchmark or peer group and as such are likely to deliver negative absolute returns when markets trend down. In contrast, hedge funds reside in an absolute return world and generically see their 'raison d'etre' to gen...