i'll add my 20c worth - APL uses the MSCI World Index as their...

i'll add my 20c worth - APL uses the MSCI World Index as their benchmark. my understanding of this is that they have chosen this as the performance line above which they charge performance fees.

APL is a long/short hedge fund and i think that they would describe themselves as an "absolute return fund" meaning that their strategy is to try and perform well regardless of whether the market is up or down. this is as opposed to a traditional long only fund where you might be paying a 1% fee for a fund full of telstra, cba etc that is probably going to end up tracking slightly above or below the index.

so APL has performed poorly for the last year but has a good average record over the last few years.

so i don't think that this is the sort of fund where you want to check in regularly to see how they're doing compared to the index, it's a fund that you buy into knowing that there'll be swings up and down that are uncorrelated to the market but you're hanging in for the long term regardless of short term movement because of a belief that their strategy and ability will see them outperform an index-hugger fund over time. that's the way i see it anyway...