Ex-Bridgewater Analyst Wang Starts (Lower) High-Fee Hedge Fund

I really just wanted to improve this headline at Bloomberg:

“Ex-Bridgewater Analyst Wang Starts No-Fee Hedge Fund”

Specifically, the article states:

“That’s why Convoy Investments LLC, the global macro fund he started in November with former Bridgewater software engineer Robert Wu, isn’t charging a performance fee to investors and only a 1.25 percent management fee, he said. The New York-based firm will even manage money pro bono for foundations and underfunded pensions for up to 25 percent of the firm’s assets.”

Wait a second.  They’re ONLY charging 1.25%??  That’s not “no fee” at all.  The problem here is that the average managed fund charges about 0.9%.  So this fund is not a “no fee” fund and it’s also still a very expensive fund relative to other actively managed funds.  Yet the article makes it sound like this fund is a huge bargain and even resembling a non-profit….

Now, maybe this is “low” for a hedge fund.  I guess the lack of a performance fee is certainly unusual.  But let’s not get all crazy here.  1.25% is still a high fee relative to most other actively managed funds out there.  And it’s certainly not a “no-fee” fund.   The problem in this industry is that fees are still WAY too high in my opinion and need to come down a lot.  Here’s to hoping that this is a trend we start to see more of.