To me, the most striking thing in this article ISN'T that there's a vast, opaque, multi-trillion dollar shadow stock market for institutional investors and elite individuals.
Instead, it's the fact that over the past 25 years, these vehicles have only managed to beat an S&P 500 index fund by 1-2% after fees. And that over the past 10 years, more than half of them are underperforming a passive index fund.
Even if I had a few extra billion dollars lying around, I wouldn't get involved with private equity firms. This audience comes across like a combination of insolvent pension fund managers desperate for a way out, and wealthy individuals who just enjoy the feeling of being in an exclusive club. With dubious "financial engineers" fleecing them all through fees, and hollowing out thousands of private companies to make the whole system possible.
Instead, it's the fact that over the past 25 years, these vehicles have only managed to beat an S&P 500 index fund by 1-2% after fees. And that over the past 10 years, more than half of them are underperforming a passive index fund.
Even if I had a few extra billion dollars lying around, I wouldn't get involved with private equity firms. This audience comes across like a combination of insolvent pension fund managers desperate for a way out, and wealthy individuals who just enjoy the feeling of being in an exclusive club. With dubious "financial engineers" fleecing them all through fees, and hollowing out thousands of private companies to make the whole system possible.