Hedge funds and other “alternative” investment vehicles are about to go mainstream as a result of Dodd-Frankand the Financial Stability Council.
Today the SEC voted to introduce a proposal to require managers with north of a billion in assets under management to report portfolio information. Managers will now be required to tell the Commission where they are investing, how much leverage they are using and their liquidity levels.
And while this is another example of the government trying to force the hands of the hedge fund industry, it is actually a good thing. This action, and a similar proposal that the Commodities Futures Trading Commission is expected to make tomorrow, signal that hedge funds are slowly becoming like mutual funds. It makes sense to me that all investors are able to invest in products that make money regardless of which way the market is moving. One of the great lessons of the credit crisis that we all learned is that markets don’t always rise.
Bringing transparency to hedge funds is the first step in bringing hedge funds to the masses.
THINGS THAT DRIVE ME CRAZY
Yesterday, I wrote about how I had to pay to park at the hospital. Well, today, I received a number of comments from readers that basically said paying for parking is the norm and that I should just deal with it. This, my dear readers, makes me in even more crazy. People are just willing to take it. Well, guess what? Not me. I will not sit idly by and take it just because it is the norm. After all, just because something is the norm does not make it right…