Secondary investments refer to investments made in existing private equity assets.

Put in context, those estimated September outflows amount to about 0.8 percent of equity assets, Strategic Insight said.

AlpInvest's secondary investments group focuses on the purchase of existing portfolios of private equity assets.

The Secondary Investments team acquires or restructures portfolios of private equity assets ranging in size from €1 million to more than €1 billion.

"A fund like New Asia should not represent a major portion of your equity assets," he wrote.

Various sources indicate that $60 billion to $90 billion of equity assets were under portfolio insurance administraion at the time of the market break.

Steinhardt Partners is a financial management firm with $1.5 billion in equity assets under management.

He writes: "Mutual fund investors should own sector funds only for a specific purpose and only for a small portion of their equity assets."

Above 100 point: "positive" (investors are increasing their allocations to equity assets).

Below 100 point: "negative" (investors are reducing their allocations to equity assets).