Experience with private equity investment

[FREE866]

I've never invested in any private equity investments. I want liquidity. Also I take comfort investing in the public market as we have a century of history that has shown excellent long term results. In addition, there is virtually no cost nowadays with the exception of very small expense ratios and I also like the tax efficiency of ETFs.

That said, if you hit it big in PE you can really knock the ball out of the park.

 

[pjigar]

I have dabbled in private equity (3 different projects) and lost my shirt. Private equity fund would be even worst because of more layers of opaqueness. Even hedge funds can't beat market if you count the fees and the funds those go belly up.

In reality, private business generate higher returns but really good opportunities are grabbed up by people close to the project. Any opportunities that goes to a wider audience is not that great to begin with. I have been widely successful with a couple of former kinds where a friend approached me directly. Even then, you have to comb every opportunity with a very fine comb. I would rather stick with index investing.

When it comes to investing, follow KISS principle. Don't just do something, stand there.

 

[Diogenes]

... there is no such thing as an unbiased determination of the investment's value. ...

[quote snipped for brevity] Everything that you note, is true. I say this as a former co-founder of a tech-ish start-up. Valuations are at best a guess. The guess can be rendered with sincerity and good faith, or... not. "Due diligence", while necessary, isn't sufficient. It can expose true fraud or prevarication, but is generally helpless in matters where the business is more or less honest, but unstable and unclear. Our former CEO generally avoided outright lying, but was unfettered in his breadth of exaggeration. The result was a set of very unhappy investors, turmoil in the Board and the C-suite, and... well, I'd not be surprised if my founder's shares go to zero.

The OP sounds like a retail investor looking for alternatives to public markets. Well, at least from my amateurish eyes, there is no alternative to public markets.

 

[Koolau]

I've never invested in any private equity investments. I want liquidity. Also I take comfort investing in the public market as we have a century of history that has shown excellent long term results. In addition, there is virtually no cost nowadays with the exception of very small expense ratios and I also like the tax efficiency of ETFs.

That said, if you hit it big in PE you can really knock the ball out of the park.

Sounds like buying a lotto ticket rather than investing, but I've never tried PE, so have no experience.

Anyone had a "good" experience with PE?

Anyone hear from OP?

 

[columbus]

I was recently offered a private equity deal from a wall street type friend who knows the person running it. It is funding for class action suits anticipating payouts within a year or so. Projections are roughly doubling money put in. (or lose it all, lol) Anyone have any experience with something like this?

 

[OldShooter]

If it is offered to individual investors, it is a stinky deal. Good deals are sold to funds and professional investors. The leftovers and the junk are pitched to retail investors.