the hedge fund industry is based upon a mirage that they can outperform the general market. it has never been proven that they can outperform a buy and hold strategy.
individual invest in hedge funds to show others they have made it to the upper strata. years ago a hedge fund which had walter Wriston(well know CEO of CITIBANK) as an investor went belly up. it came to light later that famous people without doing any due diligence, whatsoever invested in the fund
yes, especially if you are paying high commissions to a mainstream broker like merril lynch, who somehow advises to make a change in your portfolio near the end of a pay period for the broker. to quote myself:"years ago there was a book about the brokerage industry with the title where are the customers yachts. the same scenario exists for the hedge fund industry."