The Daily Stat: High Returns Prove Elusive for Hedge Funds

 

Are you having trouble viewing this email? If so, click here to see it in a web browser.

June 09, 2014 High Returns Prove Elusive for Hedge Funds A composite index of more than 2,000 hedge funds returned 72% over the past decade while charging substantial fees—the 25 highest-paid hedge-fund managers made $21 billion last year, according to the Wall Street Journal. Meanwhile, for comparison, an index fund composed of 60% stocks and 40% bonds had a return of about 100% over the same period while charging low fees. With pension funds increasingly turning to these firms for higher yields, hedge funds, which bet on and against stocks and invest in equity derivatives, now manage more than $2.4 trillion, up from $865 billion a decade ago. SOURCE: Hedge Funds' Investing Prowess Doesn't Live Up to Billing

PREVIOUS STATS Why the High Air Fares? Don't Blame High Profits Young People Earn More at Young Companies A Benefit of the Mechanization of War: Savings on Veterans' Benefits New Thinking Leads to a Decrease in Homelessness If You Have a Lot of Work to Do, Hope for Rain Is the Possibility Bias Keeping Us from Having Crazy Fun?

BEST SELLERS HBR's 10 Must Reads: The Essentials | HBR's 10 Must Reads Boxed Set | HBR Guide to Persuasive Presentations | HBR Guide to Better Business Writing | HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done

FEATURED PRODUCT It's Not the How or the What but the Who: Succeed by Surrounding Yourself with the Best HBS Press Book Why surround yourself with the best? Because it matters--in all aspects of life. In fact, in professional environments, getting people right-what global leadership authority Claudio Fernandez-Araoz calls "the art of great 'who' decisions"--marks the difference between success and failure. To thrive, you need to identify those with the highest potential, get them in your corner and on your team, and help them grow. Yet surprisingly very few of us are able to meet that challenge. This series of short and engaging essays outlines the obstacles to great "who" decisions and offers solutions to address them in a systematic way. Drawing from several decades of experience in global executive search and talent development, as well as the latest management and psychology research, Fernandez-Araoz offers wisdom and practical advice to improve the choices we make about employees and mentors, business partners and friends, top corporate leaders and even elected officials. Starting with the cases of Amazon pioneer Jeff Bezos and Brazilian tycoon Roger Agnelli and continuing with individual and corporate examples from around the world, Fernandez-Araoz paints a vivid picture of what great "who" decisions look like and presents a fresh and commanding argument about why they matter more than ever today. Buy Now

FEATURED PRODUCT Lessons from Top-Tier Companies: Apple, Google, Starbucks, and Zappos HBR Collection Does your organization manage complexity by making things more complicated? If so, you are not alone. According to The Boston Consulting Group's fascinating Complexity Index, business complexity has increased sixfold during the past sixty years. Clearly it's time for leaders to stop trying to manage complexity with their traditional tools and instead better leverage employees' intelligence. This book shows you how and explains the implications for designing and leading organizations. The way to manage complexity, the authors argue, is neither with the hard solutions of another era nor with the soft solutions that often follow in their wake. Based on social sciences (notably economics, game theory, and organizational sociology) and The Boston Consulting Group's work with more than five hundred companies in more than forty countries and in various industries, authors Yves Morieux and Peter Tollman recommend six simple rules to manage complexity without getting complicated. Morieux and Tollman give managers a much-needed tool to reinvigorate people in the face of seemingly endless complexity. Buy Now

ADVERTISEMENT

HBR.ORG | THE MAGAZINE | BLOGS | BOOKS | CASES | STORE | SUBSCRIBE TO HBR UNSUBSCRIBE | NEWSLETTERS PRIVACY POLICY | CONTACT Copyright © 2014 Harvard Business School Publishing, an affiliate of Harvard Business School. All rights reserved. Harvard Business Publishing 60 Harvard Way Boston, MA 02163 CUSTOMER SERVICE: 800-545-7685 (US/Canada) 1-617-783-7600 (outside the U.S. and Canada)