ANNANDALE, Va. (MarketWatch) — It’s time to demystify hedge funds.
For too long, individual investors haven’t only regarded hedge funds to have almost magical powers to make money; they’re also usually considered out of reach to all but the super-rich.
As such, the industry has exerted a powerful allure, especially in an era characterized by mediocre market returns. After all, the Dow Jones Industrials Average ($INDU: news, chart, profile) is at the same level today as it was in early 1999.
Consider how Mark Skousen, editor of Forecasts & Strategies, described hedge-fund strategies in an advertisement last year for a report he wrote called “The Billionaires’ Secret”:
