It's 70 years this year since Alfred Winslow Jones first
employed the investment strategy that would go on to become
commonly known as a "hedge fund". Not only am I proud
that the man referred to as the "godfather of hedge
funds" is a fellow Australian, I am also fascinated by his
much wider commercial legacy.
Jones' original fund charged performance related fees,
provided for periodic redemptions and used leverage and shorting as
part of its investment strategy.
Over the last decade hedge funds have gone onto become part of
popular culture, so much so that their internal machinations make
for prime time viewing (or holiday season box set binging) these
days. The public perception in 2019, is that they are simply a
series of high stakes bets on everything and anything. Any truth in
that? The use of the term "hedge funds" has become
increasingly misused and abused. Most of what are commonly thought
of today as being "hedge funds" are in fact nothing of
the sort and
