Hedge Funds For Dummies

by Ann C. Logue

If you want to diversify your portfolio and lower your risk exposure with hedge funds, here’s what you should Hedge Funds For Dummies explains all the different types of funds, explores the pros and cons of funds as an investment, shows you how to find a good broker, and much more. Authored by Ann Logue, a financial writer and hedge fund specialist, this handy, friendly guide covers all the bases for investors of all levels. Whether you’re just building your first portfolio or you’ve been investing for years, you’ll find everything you need to know If you’re investing for the future, you definitely want to minimize your risk and maximize your returns. A balanced portfolio with hedge funds is one of the best ways to achieve that sort of balance. This book walks you step by step through the process of evaluating and choosing funds, incorporating them into your portfolio in the right amounts, and making sure they give you the returns you expect and deserve. You’ll learn all the ins and outs of funds, This friendly, to-the-point resource includes information you can’t do without, including sample portfolios that show you how to invest wisely. Hedge funds are an important part of every balanced portfolio, and this friendly guide tells how to use them to your best advantage. With important resources, vital information, and commonsense advice, Hedge Funds For Dummies is the perfect resource for every investor interested in hedge funds.

Genres: Finance, Business

362 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 2006

Reviews

[Mirella · Rating 3 out of 5]

Far from being the kind of book you can't put down, it still offered a great navigational tool for those looking to get a better understanding of the hedge fund. This book was directed as a how-to for those interested in investing, so if you are employed by a hedge fund, or just curious, it may not be the best choice read for you. Also, the book is outdated when it repeatedly states that hedge funds have minimal regulation and are not required to register with the SEC. This is no longer true. In the past few years, Hedge Fund regulation has increased drastically.

[Szymon Kulec · Rating 4 out of 5]

I did not expect to learn that much from a book For Dummies. I might be a perfect fit :-)

If you ever wanted to understand what hedge funds do without having a massive prior knowledge of how the market works, this is the book. It starts slowly by discussing what MPT is, what are assets, securities and derivatives. It covers alpha and beta and then dives into the hedge funds and how it works.

Why "only fours starts" then? First, the probabilistic area of the book. Even though it mentions non-Gaussian distributions, it repeatedly hammers the standard deviation preferred by MPT and others. Return to the mean predicts the future. At least this is how it's shown. A few repeats that looks like hammering the same information if you read it in a fast pace (for example PUT and CALL options).

Summing up, you'll learn a lot from this book. You'll learn even more when you read it after reading some books about fat tails (see: Taleb)

[Smoothfin · Rating 3 out of 5]

lots of information for the reader to absorb here! i absorbed plenty, and came to the conclusion that i'll probably never invest in any hedge funds because i'll probably never have the money amount to qualify. nonetheless, it's an interesting read about a crazy slice of the already-crazy world of investment.

[Rakesh D. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Power packed summary of hedge funds

The book provides a great summary of hedge funds in a language which is very easy to understand and assimilate!!

[Shonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was a good broad overview of how hedge funds work. I was hoping for a little more emphasis on how the accounting works, but this is a good start. It's more of an introduction, so it doesn't go very in depth on topics like derivatives or futures and I had to buy separate books to explore topics like those a little more thoroughly.

[Kwame Webb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have a 7 year career in investing, I found this a good review of hedge fund mechanics, portfolio assembly and basic hedge fund due diligence. Great read for anyone that is tangentially interested in the subject.

[Heather · Rating 3 out of 5]

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