Of 8 absolute return funds on the market during the 2008 financial crisis, only one ended the year with a positive return, albeit a slight one at only 1.1%.

FORBES: Why Hedge Fund Strategies Don't Work for Most Investors

If you want your investing to be based on advice from the brightest minds in investing, listen to Swensen and think twice about the promise of absolute return funds.

FORBES: Should You Invest Like Yale University?

Part of the fear that drives investors to products such as variable annuities, equity-indexed annuities, and the false promises of active management (including absolute return funds) is the misplaced fear of the recent lost decade in the performance of stocks.

FORBES: A Lost Decade? Not The Case For All Investors