Even Hedge Fund Managers Get Suckered by Nigerian Prince Scams (Motherboard)
James Altucher is a hedge fund manager, entrepreneur, and self-help business book guru. He was a columnist for Financial Times, sold a startup called StockPickr for $10 million, and is currently the managing director of Formula Capital, an asset management firm. And he almost got suckered by one of the oldest investment scams in the book. In a hilariously hyperbolic Facebook post Altucher published today—it begins with the all caps disclaimer that his wife “CLAUDIA IS WORRIED I WILL BE KILLED FOR POSTING THIS” and immediately pivots to the self-aggrandizing “I stopped a $10 million robbery last week”—this titan of finance reveals that he is in fact less financially savvy than nearly anyone you’ve ever met.
Hedge Funds Are Hardly a Panacea (WSJ)
I fear that The Wall Street Journal’s opinion piece by hedge-fund specialist Bob Rice (“The Hedge-Fund Investment Puzzle,” June 1) conceals more than it reveals. Yes, as he writes, “it is plain common sense” to seek “downside protection, strategies that tend to zig when markets zag, and broader opportunities for profit.” But while the idea of market timing is indeed simple, many hedge fund managers have tried, but precious few have succeeded. Citing Benjamin Graham as the first “hedged fund” operator is an especially unfortunate example. “The trick,” Mr. Rice writes, was Graham’s “clever way to make money . . . whether it [the market] continued to rise, or started to fall.”
Tisch says hedge funds envy him amid insecurity over withdrawals (CTPost)
James Tisch, who invests in hedge funds to boost returns at Loews Corporation (NYSE:L), said he avoids managers with the largest pools of money and sleeps better at night knowing he doesn’t face the same prospect of client withdrawals. “We are very wary of managers that have $10 billion, $15 billion, $20 billion, because you have to wonder, how can they generate outsize returns with so much money,” Tisch, Loews’ chief executive officer, said Tuesday at the Bloomberg Hedge Funds Summit in New York. “We are constantly looking and probing and trying to find the new guys on the street, the people that aren’t loaded to the gills.”
Ethnic Violence Isn’t Stopping Legendary Investors From Betting On Myanmar (BusinessInsider)
One of the biggest emerging market stories in 2012 was Myanmar. Sanctions were rolled back and outsiders finally had the opportunity to invest in the resource-rich nation. Jefferies’ Sean Darby wrote that Myanmar will be the next major global trading hub. …Commodities guru Jim Rogers also continues to be optimistic on Myanmar. “We in the U.S. had numerous problems as we were rising toward becoming the greatest success of the 20th century: civil war, many Depressions in the 19th century, few human rights, little rule of law, collapse of 1907, etc, etc.,” he said.
The Richest Families In The World Are Staging A Quiet Rebellion Against Hedge Funds (BusinessInsider)
It’s no secret that since 2008, most hedge funds have lagged the S&P 500. Because of that, now the world’s richest families are starting to wonder if hedge funds are really worth their incredibly expensive price tag. And they’re starting to ask hedge fund managers some tough questions about it. Yesterday, Bloomberg hosted a conference called “The Hedge Funds Summit” for (you guessed it) hedge funds and the people that invest in them. Many of the attendees were from Family Offices — investment houses where the fortunes of the world’s wealthy are put to work.
Bruce Lipnick Invited to The Champions of Change Ceremony at White House (HedgeCo)
Hedge fund pioneer, Bruce H. Lipnick, also the Founder and CEO of Crowd Alliance, has been invited to attend the Champions of Change Program on June 4, 2013 at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building at the White House. “I am pleased to represent Crowd Alliance in joining the White House’s recognition of pioneers of Crowdfunding and to participate in the Champions of Change Program. We are a firm believer that the Jobs Act initiative will grow and provide much needed capital to small businesses leading to sustained job growth in the USA.” Lipnick said.
Struggling Commodity Funds Faced More Losses in May (InstitutionalInvestorsalpha)
Several high-profile trend-following and commodity hedge funds that have been struggling for the past year or two suffered big losses in May. Their woes look especially stark since the high-profile macro funds that use fundamental methods to make their investment decisions are faring pretty well this year. One of the losing funds is Man Group’s trend-following AHL Diversified fund, which lost a whopping 8.74 percent in May, putting it in the red for the year by 0.59 percent. Its investors are mindful that the fund lost money in both 2012 and 2011.
