The Alternative Answer - The Nontraditional Investments That Drive the World's Best Performing Portfolios

CHAPTER 4

Major Alternative Structures

Form ever follows function.

       —LOUIS SULLIVAN

A flood of marketing materials about new alternatives products is inundating investors. Much concerns the new “liquid” alternatives coming to market, a trend that, overall, is certainly a very good thing indeed. But often the related sales literature tosses around mysterious and out-of-context phrases like “the efficient frontier” and “core and satellite.” It all sounds a bit like a random lecture by a spacey professor.

Investors are often left puzzled. Enjoyed the class, thanks . . . but, now what?

So in this chapter, we’ll do a couple of things. We’ll explain how those new liquid alternatives work, and compare them to both traditional private placements ...