In 1996 the founders of Benchmark Plus introduced what we believe to be an innovative investment strategy based upon their experience as pioneers in absolute return investing and risk management.  Their many years of experience, at both large financial institutions and a major pension fund, led to what we believe is an understanding of the inherent limitations of investors to predict financial market direction, interest rates, or other macroeconomic factors more accurately than the consensus. Therefore, they chose to focus their efforts on capturing “alpha” (risk-adjusted returns in excess of their benchmark) and the managers that produce it; thus, the Benchmark Plus Real Alpha™ process was born.