Customer Reviews

Absolute Returns: The Risk and Opportunities of Hedge Fund Investing

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has many fine features but has two serious drawbacks as well.

On the positive side, I have never read a more complete polemic in favor of the hedge fund industry. He shreds EMF with loads of good evidence and humorous anecdotes. However, there seems to be a constant drive to reinforce this point. Unfortunately, it takes away from a more thorough analysis of the types of hedge fund investing.

Another problem with the book is that it has trouble discovering its audience. At times, we get detailed descriptions of what alpha and beta represent (Finance 101) and at other times, abstruse PM concepts are brushed over as common knowledge.

I would definitely recommend this book but I recommend that the reader is accompanied by a Dictionary of Finance and Investing.

The book opens with an overview of hedge funds. He classifies hedge funds according to the strategies they employ: relative value, event driven, macro, etc. Not only does he explain the trading strategies, but he delves into what can go wrong. In general theres more discussions on equity related strategies, and less in interest rates. Theres lots of historical data/information on hedgefunds performance ,indicating the very poor performance (and high total risk) of traditional funds.
This book provides a nice introduction to hedgefunds, perhaps not so much news for experienced readers. At times theres very detailed information, in other parts the author provides only an overview (whos the audience?).

The iceberg on the cover represents total risk-partly visible and partly not. Ineichen's point is that hedge fund or absolute return managers tackle total risk while their traditional mutual fund counterparts worry about only one part of it, namely the risk of straying from their benchmark. His extensive discussion contains worthy lessons for all investors who want to understand risk. While not every chapter may be useful for every reader, this book is an excellent place to learn about alternative investment strategies.

With the perfect balance of research and insight, Ineichen has created a fundamental guide to alternative investments. Nobody else that I've read (and I've read a lot in this field) has provided this level of in-depth analysis that is so sorely needed on this burgeoning market. A must for anyone needing information on hedge funds, funds of hedge funds or other alternative investment strategies.

The author presents a wideranging and at times very detailed discussion of hedgefunds. The writing style can be rather rambling with sayings of famous investment managers inserted at random and many sarcastic asides in footnotes. The work is rather polemical, trying to convince the reader that they should invest in hedge funds. The author emphasizes all the statistics which point to hedge funds having high returns and low risks and tries to explain away information which points to some high risks atached to hedge fund investing. I think his audience is an institutional investor (particularly European institutional investors) who is wondering whether they should look more closely at hedge funds. But he also insults this group along with about everyone else apart from hedge fund managers.

Hedge funds burst into the headlines in the early 1990s, when George Soros became a household name - at least in Europe, where many people blamed him and his hedge fund for wrecking the European exchange rate mechanism. Similarly, a U.S. hedge fund called Long Term Capital Management (LTCM) began with an aura of investing invincibility, only to fail dramatically. Hedge fund investing is sometimes, but not always, high risk and high return. Once limited to a privileged elite group of investors, hedge funds are now opening their rosters to less sophisticated, less wealthy speculators. But hedge funds are not just like any other funds, and anyone contemplating an investment needs a solid, comprehensive guide, such as this book. Author Alexander M. Ineichen, neither a salesman nor an alarmist, pulls no punches when discussing the risks of hedge funds. He is quite straightforward about the sometimes astonishing success of some hedge fund managers, but careful to point out the common misconceptions about them. Without hedging our bets, we find this book a valuable addition to every investor's library.

This book is very thoughtful and will help anyone considering alternative investing.

Alex writes well and helps one understand hedge funds in a logical way.

This book rambles on about the hedge fund industry. It gives a lot of definitions and statistics, but ultimately falls down. When you buy a hedge fund, you never really know what you are getting.