Alternative investments

WTW Investments and SEI see enough of a market to develop private market offerings for U.S. defined contribution plans, such as 401(k) plans.

Which private investments will generate income and protect capital after liquidity dries up? Financial advisors can look to fund managers to provide important clues.

A Deloitte analysis shows that alternative allocations — to private equity, private credit and other vehicles — in DC plans could grow quickly.

As the SEC pushes to widen access to private equity, private credit and other alternative investments, Morgan Stanley and Envestnet are among firms that already have funds no longer aimed exclusively at "accredited investors."

Views differ on whether prediction market payouts, structured as investments, should be taxed as gambling winnings or proceeds from financial instruments.

Although there are advisors who suggest steering clear, there are times when clients might benefit from using a checkbook IRA to invest in alternative assets.

At Morningstar's conference last month, speakers from companies like Blackstone, BlackRock and PIMCO added helpful context to the recent headlines on risk and alternatives.

A new academic paper finds variable prepaid forwards to be much more effective than options collars with margin loans — even though they're more complex and less accessible.

Innocent client missteps can retroactively zero out balances in the alternatives-rich, held-away retirement accounts, with the advisor none the wiser.

Join us next month for a discussion on whether more clients should be in private markets, how advisors can explain the pros and cons of alternative investments, and just where crypto and digital assets belong.

The hire is part of a BlackRock's plan to strengthen its business with family offices, which it views as a rapidly expanding part of the wealth management business.

Evaluating private equity performance is notoriously difficult due to lack of transparency. Asking these 3 questions makes it easier for financial advisors.

The Trump administration's push for alternative investments in 401(k)s steamrolls ERISA law, argues Knut Rostad.

Blue Owl has borne the brunt of investor angst around private credit and their non-traded BDCs after a scrutinized and eventually scrapped merger of two of its private credit funds in November led the manager to halt redemptions from the non-traded vehicle.

Matthew Pallai said he has no doubt wealth managers explained the risks of private credit when recommending it to clients, but the recent rush to withdraw money from credit funds suggests "they probably should have said it more often and said it louder."

The intersection between HNW clients and private markets is no longer about distribution, but integration.

Rare book collectors can sometimes see a healthy return on an investment, but advisors and other experts say the market is illiquid, and volatile — and books require careful storage and preservation.

Investors are looking to pull private investments, but strict withdrawal limits are causing angst.

There's "no free lunch investing in private assets," the research firm said in its latest study of semiliquid assets — released a week before Blue Owl permanently shut the gate of a closely watched private credit fund.

The sales pitch that private equity funds outperform publicly available investments is drawing much more skepticism. Here are the murky signals in the sector.