All savvy investors take time to ponder over their investments. If you are an accredited investor, you have more to think about simply because there are investment options available to you that the general public does not have access to.

For clarity of thought, it is always a good idea to make a list of the pros and cons of each type of investment instrument. As an example, we will briefly discuss the pros and cons of hedge funds investments.

CONS

1) Hedge funds come with high management and performance fees. This may not necessarily be a con, as you shall see later.

2) Hedge funds do not require full disclosure like public funds. As a result, it may sometimes be hard to obtain precise information on trading strategies.

3) Hedge funds are usually not available to the general public. They are more commonly for certain qualified accredited investors. For this reason, access is often restricted.

4) Hedge funds may use proprietary trading strategies. Such strategies may be complex and difficult to understand.

PROS

1) Diversification: The proper hedge funds use a multiple manager/multiple strategy approach to insulate their funds from weaknesses or drops in the markets.

2) Hedge funds, when used appropriately, can be used to reduce investment risks (E.g. short selling). Funds can perform well in up and down markets worldwide.

3) As hedge funds are exempted from stringent disclosure requirements, they allow fund managers more freedom to buy and sell assets, or to employ any trading strategies that they deem fit. This allows the fund managers to respond quickly to market changes.

4) Due to the growth of the hedge funds industry as a whole, there are more options available to the accredited investor.

5) When a hedge fund trading strategy works in your favor, the returns can be much greater than traditional public funds.

Ultimately, as an investor, your challenge will be to find the right mix of funds that will achieve the highest possible return in the shortest amount of time. To achieve this, it is always a good idea to speak with a qualified advisor, as hedge funds are notorious for being secretive.

Speaking to a qualified advisor will help you to:

1) Learn more about the different types of hedge funds available in the market, and determine whether you are qualified to invest in these funds.

2) Understand more about the different trading strategies used by each hedge fund to invest in a variety of assets.

3) Make wiser hedge funds investment decisions.

To ensure that you make wiser investment choices, get as many opinions as you can either from investment forums or blogs (one of the largest isnvestment forums is stock market forum and stock market news at StockMarketsReview.com). Ultimately, the more knowledge you gain, the less mistakes you will make and the more profitable your investments will be.