Do you really understand your funds?

Looking at some Investment Agreements that were leaked one has to wonder how many investors really are able - or willing - to understand the nitty gritty contained in these lengthy documents. As the agreements referred to in this link cover investments by professional investors in Private Equity Funds they are drawn up by expensive lawyers in order to be read by expensive lawyers. But even where professional investors are involved we doubt that their ultimate paymasters - the trustees in pension funds for example - really bother to read the agreements from end to end. So any private investor has to be extra careful before handing over his hard-earned money to any investment adviser, however nice the offices are, however impressive his or her credentials or the brochures and presentations that are offered.