Individual investors rarely have a chance to invest in a long-short strategy that scours the world for investments and operates as a mutual fund. Tom Samuels explains how the Palantir Fund maintains a concentrated portfolio, offering global exposure and liquidity to retail investors.

Companies that pay consistent dividends over a long period of time are generally known to have a strict fiscal discipline. David Crawford and his team at the Crawford Dividend Growth Fund search for undervalued companies that have a history of generating steady growth in both earnings and dividends over several business cycles.

Most mutual funds employ a static formula that requires them to be fully invested in stocks and/or bonds. The Adaptive Allocation Fund does not limit itself to any specific sectors or investments. Rather, it has developed a flexible strategy that attempts to exploit the next upturn and avoid impending downturns by being able to invest in any type of asset class, including cash, in any percentage.

In the deep and diverse high yield market, there are investable instruments that may even exhibit qualities very similar to those of equities. Paul Ocenasek, portfolio manager of the Thrivent High Yield Fund, adjusts to the specifics of the high yield spectrum while looking for bonds with favorable risk spread based on his assessment of industry and economic cycles.

Investors looking for exposure to sin stocks can diversify across gambling, tobacco, alcoholic beverages, and defense companies with the The Vice Fund. As for those who want to tap into investments largely driven by the baby boomer segment of the population, USA Mutuals Funds is offering the Generation Wave Fund. Jeff Middleswart points out the underlying investment strategies of both portfolios.

Industry leaders tend to create new markets that, in turn, drive earnings at these companies. David Carlson, portfolio manager of the GE Premier Growth Equity Fund, and his research team scour their investment universe to find companies with expectations of sustainable earnings growth.

In spite of their potential for high returns, emerging markets accompany various sources of risks and market dynamics. Arjun Jayaraman and his team at the Causeway Emerging Markets Fund have developed a quantitative approach that combines value and growth investment styles with the aim to consistently cover economic cycles and company fundamentals.