Access to Alternative Investments is no longer a differentiator offered solely by brand name broker dealers and wirehouse advisors. For decades broker dealer reps have touted the fact that they can get their clients allocations to hard-to-access private market funds.
The recommendation for investors in alternatives: Plan to file for an extension on your taxes each year. Fortunately, filing for an extension is not a costly exercise. And the deadline for filing an extension is the same day that taxes would normally be due.
This report will not attempt to address each potential type of investment in the Alternatives category. Instead, we will focus on sectors that have gained wide acceptance among institutional investors and have sufficiently long histories over which to evaluate their characteristics.
Private equity funds are appropriate for long-term investors who seek returns in the form of capital appreciation, as opposed to income. There are many approaches to acquiring private companies, but all PE funds are illiquid investments that promise higher returns in exchange for patient investor capital.
