# High-Water Mark: What It Means in Finance, With Examples

> **Definition**
>
> An investment's high-water mark is the highest value a fund or portfolio reaches, used to determine when fund managers are paid performance fees.

## What Is a High-Water Mark?

A high-water mark is the highest value an investment fund or account has reached. This term is often used in the context of fund manager compensation, which is performance-based. The high-water mark ensures the manager does not get paid large sums for poor performance. If the manager loses money over a period, he must get the fund above the high-water mark before receiving a performance bonus from the assets under management (AUM).

### Key Takeaways

*   A high-water mark is often used as a demarcation point in determining performance fees that an investor must pay.
*   The purpose is to protect investors from paying a fee for poor performance, and from paying a fee repeatedly every time the fund earns a profit.
*   With a high-water mark, the investor pays a fee that only covers the amount the fund earned between the point of entry and its highest level.

![High-Water Mark: The highest peak in value that an investment fund or account has reached.](https://www.investopedia.com/thmb/_VnAVFN7pJuhwnGCiDnZtD69hhY=/1500x0/filters:no_upscale():max_bytes(150000):strip_icc()/highwatermark.asp-final-7d11fbb52cab4b7f954bb0cb9799ec36.png)

*Some fund managers receive additional compensation based on their fund's high-water marks. — Investopedia / Julie Bang*

## Understanding High-Water Mark

A high-water mark ensures that investors do not have to pay performance fees for poor performance, but, more importantly, guarantees that investors do not pay performance-based fees twice for the same amount of performance.

> **Fast Fact**
>
> A high-water mark is different from a hurdle rate, which is the lowest amount of profit or returns a hedge fund has to earn to charge an incentive fee.

## High-Water Mark Example

For example, assume an investor is invested in a hedge fund that charges a 20% performance fee, which is quite typical in the industry. Assume the investor places $500,000 into the fund, and, during its first month, the fund earns a 15% return. Thus, the investor's original investment is worth $575,000. The investor owes a 20% fee on this $75,000 gain, which equates to $15,000.

At this point, the high-water mark for this particular investor is $575,000, and the investor is obligated to pay $15,000 to the [portfolio manager](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/portfoliomanager.asp).

Next, assume the fund loses 20% in the next month. The investor's account drops to a value of $460,000. This is where the importance of the high-water mark is noted. A performance fee does not have to be paid on any gains from $460,000 to $575,000, only after the high-water mark amount. Assume that in the third month the fund unexpectedly earns a profit of 50%. In this unlikely case, the value of the investor's account rises from $460,000 to $690,000. Without a high-water mark in place, the investor owes the original $15,000 fee, plus 20% on the gain from $460,000 to $690,000, which equates to 20% on a gain of $230,000, or an additional $46,000 in performance fees.

## Value of a High-Water Mark

The high-water mark prevents this "double fee" from occurring. With a high-water mark in place, all gains from $460,000 to $575,000 are disregarded, but gains above the high-water mark are subject to the performance-based fee. In this example, beyond the original $15,000 performance-based fee, this investor owes 20% on the gains from $575,000 to $690,000, which is an additional $23,000.

In total, with a high-water mark in place, the investor owes $38,000 in [performance fees](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/performance-fee.asp), which is $690,000 less than the original investment of $500,000 multiplied by 20%. Without a high-water mark in place, which is below industry standards, the investor owes a 20% performance fee on all gains, which equates to $61,000. The value of a high-water mark is unquestionable.

> **Important**
>
> A high-water mark both protects the fund's investors from double fees and motivates the fund's managers to perform well, in order to earn fees.

## A High-Water Mark and the "Free Ride" 

Several things can happen when an investor enters a fund during a period of underperformance. For instance, at Goldman Sachs Asset Management, an investor who buys into the fund at a net asset value (NAV) below the high-water mark will enjoy the upside from the subscription NAV to the high-water mark without paying a fee. This situation is known as a "free ride." It allows new investors to benefit from buying into an under-performing fund without penalizing existing investors. Other funds may avoid the "free ride" by charging a performance fee for any positive performance.

> **Article Sources**
>
> 1.  RQSI. "[An Overview of Hedge Fund Fees](https://www.rqsi.com/insights/education/hedge-fund-fees)."