The Global Leveraged Index Fund, a quantitative and global macro strategy fund managed by Coburn Barrett, has a 12 year track record and an annualised return of 14.04 per cent since inception in 1998.
The GLI Fund ranks in the top one per cent of all funds for total returns according to Bloomberg.
Over the same period, it has outperformed the S&P 500 total return index by 11 per cent, the MSCI Global USD total return by ten per cent and Warren Buffet by six per cent.
Year to date, the GLI Fund is up 15 per cent; the S&P 500 less than one per cent.
In stark contrast to any other fund with these returns, Coburn Barrett has never charged a performance fee. Instead it charges a flat two per cent management fee.
"Flat fees are the best way to ensure alignment of manager and investor interests. Performance fees do not mean higher returns; instead they encourage fund managers to take maximum short-term risk. When a bet is won, they are very well paid, but when the bet is lost, it is the investor alone who carries the loss. We saw this quite clearly and painfully in 2008," says Thomas Wehlen, founder and senior fund manager at Coburn Barrett.
The GLI Fund’s investment strategy is a leveraged position in a highly diversified portfolio, setting it apart from traditional index or hedge funds. Like an index fund, turnover is low and it invests in a broad range of liquid securities. Like a hedge fund, leverage is used to increase returns.
