For some reason, most investors know not to take analyst equity ratings as absolute guarantees of future risk.

FORBES: At Odds Over S&P

Such funds throw around terms like risk parity, equity long-short, market neutral and absolute return.

FORBES: Magazine Article

Part of the fear that drives investors to products such as variable annuities, equity-indexed annuities, and the false promises of active management (including absolute return funds) is the misplaced fear of the recent lost decade in the performance of stocks.

FORBES: A Lost Decade? Not The Case For All Investors

He argues that hedge funds are similar to private equity funds in that the hedge fund manager (who holds himself out as providing absolute, uncorrelated returns) has control over when to take clients and to commit their capital.

FORBES: Chasing the Mirage of Hedge Fund Returns