By: Julia Aidan
Submitted: 2009-10-06 10:21:42 | Word Count: 350
The reason the long short fund wasn't thought up many decades ago, or maybe it was but it couldn't be put into practice, is simply because of laws regulating a mutual funds short positions. However, in 1997 an amendment to the securities laws allowed funds that capitalized on short positions, like the long short fund, to come into existence. As a result, the long short fund is legal today although they are still regulated by securities laws to some degree. These regulations encompass things like how many short positions may be held as well as the use of derivatives among others.
Since the long short fund has only been in existence for a little more than a decade there is no significant historical data to point to whether or not these are solid investments that will be successful for investors over the long term. Of course, there are some long short fund investments that are doing very well and then there are some that have not performed at the level they were anticipating. This doesn't necessarily mean anything because the long short fund is not a short term, get rich quick investment. Rather, it's an investment that is designed to work the market no matter whether it is up or down to result in a successful long short fund in the end.
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Choosing a long short fund to invest in is tricky. That's because there are many different funds out there and choosing the right ones can mean success while choosing the wrong ones can end up in disaster. Before choosing to go the long short fund route make sure you talk with your investment manager and find out how proficient he/she is at evaluating long short funds. If for some reason you don't feel comfortable you will want to seek out an experienced, long short fund manager to ensure your investment is as successful as possible.
Author Resource:-Long-Short mutual funds are offered by Bull Path Capital Management, a New York based registered equity asset management firm specializing in long-short strategies.
