Investors are in a jam. A troubled global economy, unpredictable markets, and a bewildering number of investment choices create a dangerous landscape for individual and institutional investors alike. To meet this challenge, most of us rely on a portfolio of fund managers to take risk on our behalves. Here, investment expert Brian Portnoy delivers a powerful framework for choosing the right ones - and avoiding the losers. Leveraging the fresh insights of behavioral economics, Portnoy demystifies the opaque world of elite hedge funds, addresses the limits of mass market mutual funds, and discards the false dichotomy between ' traditional' and ' alternative' investments. He also explores why hedge funds have recently become such a controversial and disruptive force. It' s not the splashy headlines - spectacular trades, newly minted billionaires, aggressive tactics - but something much more fundamental. The stratospheric rise to prominence and availability of alternative strategies represents an explosion in the size and complexity of the choice set in a market already saturated with products. It constitutes something we all both crave and detest: More. THE INVESTOR' S PARADOX offers not only practical tools for investment success but also a message of empowerment for investors drowning in possibility.