What's an Alpha Manager and Why Do I Need One?

Conventional wisdom, common sense and life experience -- and maybe chicken farmers, too -- tell us, "Don't put all your eggs in one basket." It's an idiom that makes sense, especially in the financial sense, where one bad investment with too much money tied to it can lead to ruin.

The thinking largely goes back to the Great Depression, when families who held their entire fortunes in one bank lost everything when the institution went under. With the subsequent development of FDIC insurance, which covers $250,000 per person, per institution, people spread their estates across multiple banks, as the coverage from a single institution was not enough to cover many families' assets. Decades later, finances were further diversified with affordable mutual funds and stocks that you didn't