John Baeyens

Spend yesterday a day amongst Hedge fund mumbo jumbo, yes those guys ripping a +20% of the profits of their funds, on top of the 2 or 3% management fees.  Blitz guys buying fast cars to drive 220km/h on our highyways and eventually crash into an elderly couple and try to feel in their private jet.  Admitted, the latter is less present on the Blogs which adored the Glitz; ethics, remember?

Anyway, the guys I listened to didn’t have fast cars, they take the tube in London, so I hanged in and listened to the wonders of behaviorial finance in mysterious black boxes.

Hedge funds yield an average return of 15%, which is an average yield of the S&P, yet with a higher liquidity and some offer a relatively short lock-in, iow high liquidity.  

Which is the same what the Brazilian Real yielded since January 2003. With an average net (read: inflation discounted and tax deducted) intrest rate of 11,7% since January 2003, you would have earned a 11,7%*0,37/0,25=17,32%.  Not many Europeans took the bet however.