Add alternatives to client portfolios

Despite recent strong performance on the equity front, restricting investments to traditional asset classes is unlikely to be a viable option for clients looking for strong returns and a steady income flow.

Use these articles to brush up on your knowledge of alternative investments and how they can fit into your clients’ portfolios.

Since you asked: Defining alternatives

Many advisors get confused by what alternative investments entail. Typically, one associates alternative investments, or alts for short, with hedge funds. However, there is much more to alts than just hedge funds.

Vik’s Pick: Time to move into gold, says Sprott

People are focusing on equities, so precious metals aren’t getting much attention.

Transparent alternatives wanted

A few years ago the thought of a hedge fund manager tipping his hand or letting investors get a glimpse inside his “black box” was laughable, the stuff of fairy tales.

Alternatives becoming the new core

Alternative investments will increasingly become part of institutional and high net worth (HNW) portfolios. In fact, they are likely to blend right in to the traditional portfolio, supplanting long-held notions of what the portfolio core should look like.

Faceoff: Alternative investments

Participants: Marilyn Trentos, vice president & investment advisor, RBC Dominion Securities; and Nicolas Del Sorbo, senior vice president & senior investment advisor, HSBC Securities (Canada) Inc.

Staff

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.