Patient Female Fund Managers Trounced Male Counterparts During Recession By BEECHER TUTTLE

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

By BEECHER TUTTLE (follow on Twitter and Facebook)

If you are looking for safe, consistent returns, you may want to dump Joe for Jane. A new report found that female alternative investment managers appear to do a better job delivering long-term results than their male counterparts, at least during periods when the economy is struggling.

The report, compiled by New Jersey accounting firm Rothstein Kass, found that women-owned alternative investment funds - hedge funds, private equity and venture capital etc. - delivered a 3.6% compound annual return during the five years ending in Sept. 2012, according to U.S. News & World Report. The all-inclusive HFRX Global Hedge Fund Index, meanwhile, booked a 3% loss during the same period.

The difference in outcomes is heavily correlated with the manner in which most female fund managers operate. Unlike their male counterparts, female managers tend to have less turnover in their portfolios, choosing safer long-term buys over volatile pumping and dumping. As you’d imagine, this style of investing tends to do well during tumultuous times.

"Women take lower risks because they do more research and are more comfortable holding their securities longer," Rothstein director Meredith Jones told U.S. News & World Report. Men, it seems, have an itchy trigger finger. Funny that just 3% of alternative investment funds are managed by women.