What is a Hedge Fund and Should You Invest in One ?

 

If you want to become a millionaire, it’s entirely possible and easier than you think. No  voodoo or spells, here are 16 realistic ways to make one million dollars through a hedge fund.

One million dollars is and is not a lot of money. It’s the first million that’s the hardest, which is what people mean when they say it takes your own money to make money. Once you make the first million, your money starts doing all the hard work.  

 

There are a few decisions you have to make as a young adult, and they can help or hinder your progress to making one million dollars and towards your hedge fund. 

 

Achieving a net worth of one million dollars is a goal a lot of people share. That’s probably because they see it as being enough money for retirement, or to live the lifestyle of their absolute dreams.

 

You also automatically earn the title of “millionaire.” And that’s something you aspire to because it means you have “made it” in life.  One million dollars is more money than most of you have ever had in your checking account and, in theory, it’s enough money for early retirement. 

 

What is a hedge fund

Hedge funds are investment firms that use complex strategies and other forms of hedge fund management to generate profitability for their investors. They are different from traditional mutual funds that invest in stocks and bonds and are less regulated and much more opaque. This opacity is projected because many hedge funds rely heavily on tax and secrecy purposes. Hedge funds are entirely legal, although generally one will need to be a sophisticated Investor or Accredited Investor to access them.

Who invests in hedge funds?

Hedge funds tend to serve people with a high net worth and invest large sums, regardless of regular investors. In general, it is extremely difficult for an individual investor to access a high quality hedge fund. It is possible to invest in a hedge fund, but there are significant differences in the types of investors that make up its investment fund, as well as in the quality of its management.

Many simply give up and are forced to find indirect methods of investing through retail funds, such as private equity, mutual funds or other investment funds.

Hedge funds are only accessible to sophisticated investors because they are not as regulated as traditional investment funds and financial advisors. For ordinary people, investing in a hedge fund run by a financial firm could be a way to gain indirect access. These so-called accredited investors are wealthy individuals or organizations and are more likely to understand the unique risks associated with hedge funds.

Investment standards for the hedge fund
Hedge fund managers and shareholders often set high minimum investment standards. The minimum amount an investor can deposit into a fund is set by the Hedge Fund administrator and can reach $ 100,000, although it is more typical for a Hedge fund to have a minimum investment level of $ 1 million +

The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) requires that most hedge fund investors be accredited, which means they have at least two years of experience in the investment management industry. It is not uncommon for those who invest in a hedge fund to be charged a fee to participate in their investment funds, which is about 2% for very aggressive and actively managed funds.

Hedge funds and mutual funds
Many mutual funds are created to mimic the investment strategies of famous hedge funds, but these requirements exclude the vast majority of the investing public. These so-called funds are inaccurate copies, as a hedge fund has no direct link to the actual investment strategy of a known investment fund.

Hedge funds and EFT
There are also replication funds that attempt to mimic the performance of a hedge fund benchmark with a traded fund (ETF) that seeks to achieve the same return as the underlying index. Some hedge funds are actually listed on the stock exchange and have shares that can be purchased individually or through a broker.

Investing in a hedge fund
For investors who are interested in hedge funds but do not have access to them, you may be able to capture some of the performance by investing in listed trading funds. For example, BlackRock has a portfolio of alternative investments that act like a hedge fund, managing billions of dollars for clients and ultra-rich organizations. By investing in BlackRock as a company, rather than in their funds, you are exploiting their ability to invest in companies that manage hedge funds.

Criteria for investing in a hedge fund
You can invest in a hedge fund, but only if you meet the criteria for joining the fund. There are a number of investment advisors, such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley, who can provide access to a variety of hedge funds and other investment opportunities, so you do not have to invest directly in them. However, this “fund of funds” tends to be more interesting for those who invest less than $ 100,000 in any situation.

Sophisticated investments in a hedge fund
The requirements of accredited investors are in place to ensure that investors have an understanding of the advanced and aggressive strategies normally used by hedge fund money, as well as the risks that this money assumes. The rules usually follow the ESA’s Minimum Income Rules :

You must have earned an annual income of at least $ 1 million in the last five years and
You have net assets of over $ 1 million.
Funds can usually make exceptions to these criteria for family and friends, but only if they have a good reputation.

What is investing in a hedge fund?

A hedge fund is a collective investment vehicle. Now, you’re probably wondering what the hell is a common investment vehicle? So, in fact, let’s break down the hedge fund. You have the word “hedge”, which from a financial point of view simply means to protect yourself in times of uncertainty. And then you have a “fund”, which is a combined investment vehicle. This vehicle collects different amounts of money from different individuals and places them in a fund called a hedge fund, then uses it to invest in the financial markets.

Asset classes
Asset classes are areas in the financial markets in which you can invest. So there is fixed income, there are stocks, there are multiple assets, there are quantities and there are alternatives. When we talk about hedge funds, they fall into the category of alternative investments.

The reason hedge funds have become known for making risky bets in the financial markets is because hedge funds can take investment positions or bets in both directions so that they can go long or short. They can make money whether the markets rise or fall. On the other hand, mutual funds or investment funds are safer or less risky, because they can only invest for a long time.

Mutual funds tend to be regulated, which means they are limited in how they can invest. Hedge funds are regulated by the financial services regulators in their home country, so they are allowed to place positive bets on companies or securities or financial instruments and may also take negative bets.

Invest in a Hedge Fund to get short
If a hedge fund manager believes that a company will perform very poorly, he may invest negatively in that company so that he can create bets that assume that a company will perform very poorly in the next few months or years.

If investors face a very harsh market environment, they could use hedge funds as investment vehicles to protect themselves from going both long-term and short-term. It is important to note that some hedge funds are specifically long-term hedge funds, so they could only focus on long-term strategies or positive growth strategies in equity markets. Some hedge funds may specialize in real estate investments. Some hedge funds may specialize in the debt market.

Investing in a hedge fund
Another reason hedge funds are often considered risky is that they take a lot of leverage. Now, what this means is to maximize their return, they invest with borrowed money.

So suppose a hedge fund has only $ 100 million to invest. If he believes the opportunity will provide a two percent return or a five percent return, it could bring in $ 102 million or $ 105 million.

However, if the Hedge Fund borrows another $ 100 million, then the $ 200 million invested would produce $ 210 million with a 5% return.

Once it has done this, it presents a higher risk, because if the market went the opposite way, because the loss would have been higher. So when you get up, when you take leverage, when you try to maximize your profitability by borrowing money, the advantage is greater. But the potential risk is that there is a bigger disadvantage, and hedge funds tend to do this a lot. That is why they are considered risky.

The risk and reward of investing in a hedge fund
For customers eager to take risks, the increase can be huge. It is not uncommon for a hedge fund to provide an explosive capital increase of about 15% per year.

Asset-backed investments
For those looking for a solid return on a fund, while limiting their exposure to market volatility Asset-backed investments can provide 10% annual growth through their active and aggressive hands on managing distressed real estate in the UK, and US. These funds have received a lot of interest in recent years, as investors avoid traditional “safe” retail investments due to extremely low or non-existent returns.

Hedge funds are unregulated
Banking and the media will make investors believe this Offshore investing is somehow shady or unregulated and this is simply incorrect. Hedge funds are governed by offshore jurisdictions, many of which are British Crown Territories .

Accredited investors or people who can invest in hedge funds usually have a net worth of over one million pounds and each investment size is usually at least $ 100,000.

How do you earn hedge funds?
You may be familiar with terms two and 20. This means that hedge funds receive a two percent administration fee and a 20% performance fee.

If a small hedge fund has invested $ 100 million or, if applicable, the management fee is two percent per annum. The 20 percent fee is the performance fee of the hedge fund that sins at certain agreed levels.

Contrary to popular belief, the management of $ 100 million is not without costs or logistics, and the annual administration fee of 2% is completely realistic for an aggressive and actively managed fund, especially one that is relatively illiquid, such as property.

 

 

To conclude… 

 

By now you can see that not only is it possible for you to achieve a net worth of one million dollars within the next five years or so…

 

Creating a multi-million dollar income isn’t as difficult as you once thought it was.

 

Self-made millionaires all follow the same advice we shared with you in this article. There are no secret societies or groups where future millionaires are given the secrets to generating huge amounts of wealth.

 

Now that you know how to make a million dollars, now it’s time to take that first step.