Today the stock market is completely different than it was five years ago or even six months ago. The stock market will continue to change and volatility will continue to cause investors headaches. That's why it's important for investors to find new ways to invest their money and to diversify their portfolio to reduce their overall risk. One investment method is a long short mutual fund. This particular type of investment will allow investors to take advantage of the market when it is at its best as well as when the market is falling. The reason why is that two different types of stocks are purchased to create this fund. One set, usually equaling 20 or so stocks, are the long options. These are stocks that are set to perform well. Then, there are 30 or so short options. These are stocks that are expected to go down in value. They are usually "Loaned" to the portfolio from the broker and when they go down are purchased at the lower price and the difference is made.

In the long short mutual fund there is a role for both the long options and the short options and they play against each other and the market very well. So well, in fact, that many long short mutual fund managers are projecting positive returns every year in excess of 20%. Everyone who knows the stock market knows that anything can happen and there are no promises or guarantees. However, with the long short mutual fund there is no need for guarantees because the strategy used by the fund creates a sense of "insurance" so that severe losses are unlikely to be experience and positive yearly returns more likely.