I've previously posted elsewhere on AAM about the risks to retirees of making lump sum investments in equities.
https://www.askaboutmoney.com/threa...ervative-investors.156555/page-2#post-1518084. Since I made that post, I've talked to retirees I know and asked what advice, if any, they received on investing retirement lump sums. None of those I spoke to were advised to invest in equities, and by and large were advised to invest in e.g. SL GARS and equivalent absolute return products, i.e. hedge funds. The rational given by financial advisers was that these type of funds aim to give a return independent of the market, which, while correct, may not give a full idea of the risks involved in this type of investment, which as other posters have pointed out, are hedge funds.
Hedge funds are not an assets class, i.e. a claim on future returns of productive assets that share particular common characteristics. They are more a way of investing. Typical strategies, for example, for 'absolute return funds' are to go long on individual equities and short the equities' index by an equal amount. Any gain is pure alpha, gained by eliminating systemic risk, i.e. the risk for holding the asset class, and taking the gain for investing in specific assets within that class. You are still investing in equities, and are betting on the manager's superior skill in reducing / eliminating market risk, while giving you a return. The manager can also improve returns by adding leverage, which is generally frowned on as it increases risk, but, many investment trusts, i.e. long only vehicles, also take leveraged bets and do not seen to be dismissed out of hand for this.
Personally, I've a few of these in my portfolio, but for their diversification effect. So should you invest in them? Like all investments, it depends on (a) your current portfolio; (b) your risk profile and (c) the current economic environment. So only you can answer that question.
As for Irish Life saying “and it’s entirely possible to make money irrespective of the direction the market’s moving in. " Of course it is, by investing in asset classes that have low correlations with market movements, or by not taking market risk at all.