If you are a beginner, make sure that you've invested with someone with experience, and that you have chosen what market exposure you want - aggressive or conservative. It is important to try to understand what the risks are in the portfolio and make your choices based on that. There's risk in everything. Let's talk about leverage. Borrowing money to invest is one special characteristic of hedge funds.
Leverage can be a dangerous tool or a conservative tool.
Leverage should be used for hedging, not exclusively for profit. And it is probably less risky when you spread it around between more than one country, sector or instrument. If leverage concerns you, don't invest with people who use leverage. It is a regulatory issue. We cannot market hedge funds.