Home >  Investment Products > Managed Futures >  
 
Potential Benefits
 
  

 
If you're a qualified investor, managed futures investments may offer several potential benefits. They may provide you with:
  • Portfolio diversification -- By allocating a portion of your assets to managed futures, you may increase the diversification and the long-term performance potential of your investment portfolio while potentially reducing overall portfolio volatility.
  • Access to world economic markets -- Managed futures investments may participate in up to as many as 80 global currency, interest rate, stock index, metals, agricultural and energy markets.
  • Professional portfolio management -- Managed futures investments utilize professional money managers with sophisticated risk management systems, years of experience and the capital needed to successfully participate in these markets.
  • Improved portfolio efficiency -- Adding managed futures to a traditional stock and bond portfolio may provide the potential to increase the long-term risk-adjusted rates of return in the portfolio.
  • Low-correlated performance potential -- Many portfolios contain traditional investments such as stocks and bonds. In order to maximize profit potential (with commensurate risk) in all market cycles, investors often look to include investments that have the potential to perform when these markets experience difficulty. Managed futures have historically demonstrated the ability to perform independently of traditional investments, such as stocks and bonds. This is referred to as low correlation. The degree of correlation of any given managed futures fund will vary, particularly as a result of market conditions, and some funds will have a significantly greater degree of correlation with stocks and bonds than others. To the extent the performance of managed futures and the performance of traditional markets exhibit low correlation, managed futures may or may not perform well when traditional markets are performing well, and vice versa. The factors that influence the stock and bond markets can affect the futures markets in different ways and to varying degrees. PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS.

Qualified Investors
Only investors who are financially eligible and willing to accept managed futures' inherent fluctuations should consider managed futures investments. Because these investments can be volatile, they are appropriate only for the risk capital portion of an investment portfolio, and they should be positioned for the long-term. Investors are cautioned that they could lose all or substantially all of their managed futures investments.
 
Investor suitability:
The financial requirements for public futures funds vary from state to state and with each offering. Generally, in most states, a minimum net worth of $150,000 (excluding homes, furnishings and automobiles) or a minimum annual income of $45,000 and a net worth of $45,000 (with the same exclusions) may be considered sufficient to allow investors to take advantage of certain managed futures investments. Suitability standards for certain public futures funds and private placement funds are higher and vary by offering. Ask a Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor about suitability requirements in your state.
 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
Branch Locator | Site Map | Privacy | Terms of Use | Disclosures | Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated Financial Statement
 
 
Effective April 1, 2007, Morgan Stanley DW Inc. merged with Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated; any non-historical references to Morgan Stanley DW Inc. found on our website should be read to refer to Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated.
 
Investment consulting services are offered at Morgan Stanley only through investment advisory programs and are not available through traditional brokerage accounts and products. Please speak with a Morgan Stanley Financial Advisor to further discuss the differences between brokerage and advisory products offered by Morgan Stanley.
 
Investments and services are offered through Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated, member SIPC. © 2008 Morgan Stanley. All rights reserved.
 
The information and services provided on this website are intended for persons in the U.S. only. Non-U.S. persons are directed to our Global Offices page.