28 September 2009

Pitfalls of investing in the United States

News that the Madoff Trustee Picard may sue investors that have extracted positive returns from Bernie Madoff's Fund before the fund collapsed should be a warning sign for international investors. Whatever the merits of Picard's case against former investors - to subject yourself to such legal uncertainty is the last thing an investor would want to do. Just as no one in his right mind would cross a bridge where a warning sign reads: 'Warning - cross at your peril, there is a 1 in 1000 chance that the bridge will collapse while you cross it' so any sane investor should think twice before handing his savings to an investment manager based in the United States.

24 September 2009

The Vanishing Hedge Fund

Or should it better be: the vanishing investor money? Forbes Magazine carries a story that underlines the danger of entrusting money to loosely-controlled investment managers without doing proper due diligence.