Do I need to answer my questions? Of course, it’s always about fees. They get fees if they do well or (most likely) if they do poorly for their clients.
How can we as the investing public (including me) be so dumb?
Another reason never EVER to buy a fund. Here is the 9 x 12 envelope I received yesterday in the mail.
Below is the first of two pages that were in the envelope:
You’ll notice that the envelope is from Citi Alternative Investment and the 2-page letter from StepStone Group, the name of the company Citigroup sold my fund to — without asking or telling me why.
The 2-page letter contains a Capital Account summary which shows I’ve lost 26% — so far — on my investment. What’s most interesting is what the letter doesn’t provide:
1. The name of my financial advisor.
2. StepStone’s address and phone number.
3. The name of anyone at StepStone who may be involved with managing this fund.
4. Any explanation of what the fund is invested in and how we’re doing.
The arrogance Wall Street shows its customers is mindblowing.
P.S. The people at Citigroup who sold me this piece of drek left long ago. Ditto for the manager of the fund — the reason I bought it.
I have no idea who StepStone is, but they clearly give arrogance (and greed?) a whole new meaning.
Which stocks have appreciated the fastest? The site is called NNA100.com. Click here.
The Next 7 American Monopolies (NFLX, SIRI, LULU, AWK, FICO, MCP, MON). The names are Netflix, Sirius XM Radio, Lulu Lemon, Fair Isaac, Molycorp Minerals and Monsanto. Interesting piece. Click here.
Before they bomb Iran
The commanding officer at the Russian military academy (the equivalent of a 4-star general in the U.S.) gave a lecture on Potential Problems and Military Strategy. At the end of the lecture, he asked if there were any questions. An officer stood up and asked, “Will there be a third world war? And, will Russia take part in it?”
The general answered both questions in the affirmative.
Another officer asked, “Who will be the enemy?”
The general replied, “All indications point to China.”
Everyone in the audience was shocked. A third officer remarked, “General, we are a nation of only 150 million, compared to the 1.5 billion Chinese. Can we win at all, or even survive?”
The general answered, “Just think about this for a moment. In modern warfare, it is not the quantity of soldiers that matters but the quality of an army’s capabilities. For example, in the Middle East, we have had a few wars recently where 5 Jews fought against 150 million Arabs, and Israel was always victorious.”
After a small pause, yet another officer – from the back of the auditorium asked, “Do we have enough Jews?”
Harry Newton who is excited because his daughter is visiting this weekend. And she’s not bringing her washing — like her brother did. She’s just bringing her busted car, which she and I have to get fixed. I think I prefer the washing. But as my real estate syndicator once said to me, “It is what it is.“
The Volcker Rule is forcing banks to shed these instruments.
Quote: “The Volcker rule, named for former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, restricts banks from proprietary trading and places limits on the size of private equity or hedge fund investments.”
“Some U.S. banks have been shedding assets. Last month, media reports said Morgan Stanley (MS.N) was planning to spin off hedge fund unit FrontPoint Partners.”
“Earlier this summer, Citi agreed to sell its private equity unit to StepStone Group LLC and Lexington Partners. Bank of America was shedding a $1.2 billion commitment to funds managed by Warburg Pincus LLC WP.UL and spun off a $1.9 billion portfolio of private equity investments.”
20 seconds on Google (but I agree you shouldn't have to hunt for it)
Step Stone Group LLC
4350 La Jolla Village Dr # 800
San Diego, CA 92122-1247, United States
(858) 558-9700
Only governments have the power to create and destroy monopolies.
Citi probably sold the investment management portion of the fund to StepStone. However, StepStone probably retained Citi as the hedge fund administrator (ie., Citi still does the “back office” work).
It's a private equity fund, I believe. I went to StepStone's web site today. Under “Contact Us,” they give you a form to fill in. If you're lucky, they'll respond. There's no phone number, no address, no names, no nothing. It's like they have something bigtime to hide.