Misunderstanding

While the concept of fund managers aiming to make you money whatever the market conditions is simple enough, achieving that aim is far from easy

Investor satisfaction with the limited number of absolute return funds open to them is hampered by a distinct lack of understanding of the nature of the beast. Making sense of the many strategies is a complex matter. According to Dan Kemp, head of fund research at Williams de Broë, investors have the wrong idea about absolute return funds. He says: "While we like them as an adviser, they are badly understood and poorly used in general. People are looking for the Holy Grail, wanting funds that are index beating in up markets but providing zero capital loss in down markets." Those targets a...