Alternative investments keep growing, and Fred Hubler breaks down the practical question most investors actually face: how do you choose one? He identifies four basic ways to access anything beyond stocks and bonds – private syndication, going through an advisor via an RIA, going through an advisor via a broker-dealer, or investing directly (only realistic if you’re big enough to write large checks yourself). He’s candid that private syndication is “the Wild West,” with the least regulation and the most bad actors, so he stresses doing your homework twice over before committing.
Regardless of which channel investors use, Hubler says the sheer number of options is overwhelming, so he shares the specific factors his own analysis looks for: a legal, ethical, and moral unfair advantage, economies of scale, access to off-market deals, and a track record of how the company performed during a down cycle, such as 2008 or 2020.
Four filters, one goal: separate the deals worth pursuing from the noise in an increasingly crowded alternative investment market.
Hubler walks through each of these four filters in detail over on Forbes, Diversify Your Portfolio: The Art Of Selecting Alternative Investments.