Some investors still
think of alternative investments as an exclusive, narrowly defined class of investments, but Alternatives come in a variety of packages, and can be a powerful tool that help investors achieve greater diversification, dampen volatility and boost returns.
Not exact matches
Of course, there is nothing wrong with taking on
investment capital from venture capitalists or angel investors, but I do
think it's worth considering the
alternative if you have the means to do so.
Besides, I
think many
of the old guard utilities will have some form
of alternative energy offerings going forward and I would rather place an
investment there.
So in the last couple
of weeks I was
thinking a lot about other
investment alternatives, besides just dividend paying companies.
The New York
Alternative Investment Roundtable recently conducted a survey on the topic of how the United States stacks up in foreign affairs and found that many in the alternative investment industry think the United States is diminishing its global influence, according to a recent release by the
Alternative Investment Roundtable recently conducted a survey on the topic of how the United States stacks up in foreign affairs and found that many in the alternative investment industry think the United States is diminishing its global influence, according to a recent release by the r
Investment Roundtable recently conducted a survey on the topic
of how the United States stacks up in foreign affairs and found that many in the
alternative investment industry think the United States is diminishing its global influence, according to a recent release by the
alternative investment industry think the United States is diminishing its global influence, according to a recent release by the r
investment industry
think the United States is diminishing its global influence, according to a recent release by the roundtable.
14 %
of respondents believe that insider trading practices in the
alternative investment industry have become less prevalent since the FBI arrested Raj Rajaratnam and scared the bejeezus out
of everyone, a noticeable drop from January 2016 when 25 %
of respondents felt this way; 37 %
of respondents
think the news
of arrests and convictions there has had little impact on insider trading because those who engage in such practices
think they are smarter than everyone else and will never get caught, compared with 39 %
of respondents in 2016; and 49 %
of respondents believe the influx
of money into funds in recent years and the explosion in the number
of hedge fund firms has put enough pressure on fund managers that there will always be a few desperate enough to try anything, including insider trading, a significant increase from the 36 %
of respondents who felt this way in the Roundtable's previous survey on this topic.
He also writes articles and
thought pieces in a number
of publications and speaks on various panels regarding issues affecting the
alternative investment industry.
Monthly events center around
thought - provoking speakers and panels designed to keep members apprised
of timely and important issues within the
alternative investment industry.
One in five respondents indicated they do not know if their plan's default is a qualified default
investment alternative (QDIA), and half
of the small number
of plan sponsors who said an equity fund was their default mistakenly
thought that fund was a QDIA.
Lately though I have been giving some
thought to the idea
of using an
alternative investment vehicle also.
I don't
think you need to include gold in your portfolio, or for that matter, any
of the other
alternative or niche
investments many advisers tout these days.
That's why Jonathan Pappas, communications consultant for real estate PR firm Solomon McCown,
thinks real estate
investment trust (REIT) Alexandria Real Estate Equities (ARE, $ 126.98) could be a compelling
alternative in the midst
of this market turbulence.
In fact, if you don't
think that «
alternative investing» is for you, ask your current adviser if you have any
alternative investments in your portfolio (retirement included) or if any
of your existing holdings in funds have them.
Cash is cash, while cash
alternatives are short - term
investments that you can easily turn into cash —
think money market funds and certificates
of deposit.
My
thinking was that bitcoins are clearly a long - term
investment and by using my asset allocation model, I could provide room for them as part
of my
alternative investment allocation.
I
think where home bias is a factor is where one looks at
investments close to home and does not consider what
alternatives further away may exist (and yep, I am certainly guilty
of that at times).
On the other hand, I
think it would be better for our economy if prices went up in a more controlled manner and if some
of the money went to the government which could use it for
investment in
alternative energy resources or to reduce taxes, rather than just going to windfall profits for the oil companies.
There are
alternatives I don't
think I convinced either
of my two audiences that fossil fuels are going to disappear overnight, but once I drew their attention to recent declines in Chinese coal production and a stall in global carbon emissions they did appear to concede that basing future
investment decisions simply on past patterns
of consumption might not be the wisest
of strategies.
I
think you should consider all these points and come out
of this policy, in case you have a better
alternative plan or
investment.
For some reason, I always overemphasize the
investment and
think the quality
of alternatives is much lower than it really is.
The next time you
think about making an
alternative IRA
investment, which lies in a «Gray Area,» make sure to
think twice and seriously about the consequences
of an IRA prohibited transaction and decide whether it's worth the risk.