Hedge funds and private equity funds: Becoming more accessible

A private equity fund is defined as an equity capital that is not publicized. Private equity funds come from private sources, including investors and funds that make investments directly into private companies or acquire public companies resulting to the delisting of public equity.

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Meanwhile, a hedge fund is an investment offered to a limited number of bigwigs. The risk involved in this type of investment is in counterbalancing potential losses by way of hedging investments in various approaches, such as short-selling.

Nowadays, small businesses have a rough time obtaining credit, much less acquiring hedge funds and private equities. This may be due to lenders’ tight credit policies or their refusal to take risks on small businesses. Fortunately, crowdsourcing and crowdfunding have become practices that small businesses can take for them to cope with financial struggles, Forbes Magazine explains. These practices avoid traditional capital sources and instead acquire financing from the masses. Because of the plausibility of these practices, Congress passed the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act in 2012.

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This development eventually results to a liberal access to hedge funds and private equity funds to accredited investors. Although non-accredited investors would not be admitted here, many small businesses can benefit from this. It seems that capital-starved entrepreneurs have more options in gaining investments with less risk.

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Investment expert Alex von Furstenberg served as the co-managing member and chief investment officer of Arrow Capital Management, LLC, a private investment firm focused on global public equities. This Facebook page provides more updates about public and private equity markets.

Is everything you need to know about investing right?

Whatever you want to invest in—whether on stocks, mutual funds, annuity, or an IRA account—never plunge into it without having all essential questions answered. The government reminds every investor that every investment draws some risks at some degree. No matter how seasoned you are as an investor, there are ‘fine prints’ to consider when making a wise investment decision. For all you know, the things you might have picked up in the past may lead you to financial catastrophe today.

With this in mind, Forbes presents three rules that investors—even high-profile ones like Alex von Furstenberg and Jeremy Stoppelman—can benefit from.

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Rule # 1
Familiarize yourself with dollar-cost averaging. It emphasizes on the importance of periodic allocation of a certain amount of money into stock investments rather than investing it all at once, which has a lot of risks.

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Rule # 2
As you come close to retirement age, take it easy on aggressive investing. Moderation is the key as you would want to protect your assets.

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Rule # 3
Know that choosing a high-performing mutual fund in implementing your asset allocation makes sense since top raters tend to stay in control of the things they do best.

Don’t just take this advice as it is. Seek more answers from various resources. Understand that at the end of the day, the important things are those that make you comfortable and those that work best for you.

Alex von Furstenberg is the chief investment officer and founder of Ranger Global Advisors, a family office focused on opportunistic value-based investing. Learn more about investing by logging on to this Facebook page.

How investments mirror the investor’s personality

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Much like how people differ when it comes to facing life, investors also adapt different styles in tackling the volatile world of investments. More often than not, the way by which investors handle their investments is greatly reflective of their actual personalities, as idiosyncrasies might play a large role in influencing investment decisions.

For example, those who are risk-averse usually end up becoming conservative investors. They are the “planners”—careful and meticulous investors who are alright with modest returns as long as the capital remains intact. They’d rather invest in expensive and slow-growing blue chip stocks, so long as they are assured of asset protection and regular dividend payouts.

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Meanwhile, there are people with strong personalities who aren’t afraid of the risks and who would rather lose in the act of winning rather than staying in a gray area. Applied in investing, they are known as the “players”—investors who actively play in the markets and invest in securities with the highest growth prospects, notwithstanding the counterpoising risks. They gain big, they lose big—such is the life of the players.

But there also those who are more optimistic than most people and who are willing to learn should they be given the opportunity. In investment speak, these people are “adventurers”—investors who see the markets as an opportunity to improve their present status and will do whatever it takes to learn its labyrinthine secrets toward success.

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Brown University alumnus Alex von Furstenberg is an investment maven who specializes in opportunistic investing. Learn more about his investing personality by visiting his website.

Investing in areas yet unexplored by for-profits and the government

Like investment expert and philanthropist Alex von Furstenberg, Bill Gates is a strong believer of philanthropic efforts from businesses to bring about necessary changes in society.

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Businesses are driven by aims for profit. Where there are free markets, there are also exchanges of ideas and products that bring about a better quality of life for consumers. The problem in this setup is that businesses that are concerned with profit alone tend to miss out on the needs of those that cannot pay.

The area that is commonly overlooked by for-profit organizations is where the government steps in and plays a significant role. With government investment in fields that serve the common good, like in medical research, aid and benefits can reach the people that need support the most.

Still, in spite of the business community and the government working on their own agendas, Bill Gates has shared that there still exists an area for innovations that can be ultimately rewarding for all. That space is what he calls the area for “catalytic philanthropy.”



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By reaching beyond market forces and investing in areas that are missed by government funding, society moves toward solving some long standing ills even when there is no apparent benefit to the initiators.

Profit may not come in the form of monetary gains for the companies that drive investments toward solutions for overlooked problems of society and the world at large. It may actually just come in the form of improvements in the status of society and in the form of benefits which may be enjoyed by all.

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Visit this blog for more stories on philanthropic ventures.