Alternative Investments
Alternative Investments in short lessons: features and fee structures, performance and returns, private capital, real estate and infrastructure, natural resources, hedge funds and digital assets, each with worked examples, charts and exam traps.
My deck- 01
Alternative Investment Features, Methods, and StructuresLocked: included in All Access
What makes an investment 'alternative', the three big categories (private capital, real assets and hedge funds), the three ways to get in (fund investing, co-investing and direct investing), and the ownership and pay structures (limited partnerships, side letters, management and performance fees, hurdles, catch-ups, high-water marks, clawbacks and waterfalls) that hold manager and investor together over many years.
- What makes an investment alternativeLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Private capital and hedge fundsLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Real assets: real estate, infrastructure, natural resources and moreLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Three ways in: fund investing, co-investing and direct investingLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Ownership structures: limited partnerships and beyondLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Compensation: fees, hurdles, catch-ups, clawbacks and waterfallsLocked: included in All Access15 min
- 02
Alternative Investment Performance and ReturnsLocked: included in All Access
Why alternative investments are harder to appraise than listed stocks and bonds (life cycle, leverage, valuation and fees), how IRR and MOIC measure their returns, and how management fees, performance fees, hurdles, catch-ups, high-water marks, clawbacks and fund-of-funds layers turn a gross return into the net return a particular investor actually earns.
- Why appraisal is harder: the life cycle and the J-curveLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Measuring returns: IRR versus MOICLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Leverage: magnifying gains and lossesLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Valuation: fair value levels and smoothed returnsLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Fees, custom terms and redemption provisionsLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Hurdle rates, catch-up, waterfalls and clawbackLocked: included in All Access15 min
- High-water marks, investor timing and either/or feesLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Funds of funds, benchmarks and index biasesLocked: included in All Access12 min
- 03
Investments in Private Capital: Equity and DebtLocked: included in All Access
Private capital is money for companies raised outside public markets and banks: private equity (buyouts, venture capital, growth equity, PIPEs) and private debt (direct lending, venture debt, mezzanine, distressed, unitranche and specialty loans). This module explains how each works across the corporate life cycle, how private equity funds exit, what drives the risk and return of private equity and private debt, and what diversification benefit private capital adds to a portfolio of public stocks and bonds.
- Private equity: buyouts, growth equity and PIPEsLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Venture capital and the corporate life cycleLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Private equity exits and risk-returnLocked: included in All Access15 min
- Private debt: the main categoriesLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Risk and return of private debtLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Diversification benefits, vintage years and the risk-return ladderLocked: included in All Access13 min
- 04
Real Estate and InfrastructureLocked: included in All Access
Real estate and infrastructure as asset classes: what makes property unusual (heterogeneity, fragmented local markets, opaque prices, costly deals), the direct and indirect ways to own it including REITs, where its returns come from along the risk-return spectrum and how leverage and diversification work, then how infrastructure is defined, categorised by asset type and development stage, held directly or through funds and listed vehicles, and why investors value its stable, inflation-linked cash flows.
- What real estate is and why it is differentLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Direct ownership, indirect vehicles and REITsLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Real estate returns, the risk-return spectrum and leverageLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Real estate income, inflation and diversificationLocked: included in All Access11 min
- Infrastructure: assets, cash flows and categoriesLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Greenfield, brownfield and secondary stage; forms of investmentLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Infrastructure risk, return and diversificationLocked: included in All Access12 min
- 05
Natural ResourcesLocked: included in All Access
Natural resources as an asset class: how raw land, farmland and timberland resemble and differ from real estate and from each other, how commodities are held (mostly through derivatives) and priced against the spot market through carry costs and convenience yield, and what drives their risk, return, inflation-hedging ability and diversification benefits in a portfolio of stocks and bonds.
- Raw land, farmland and timberlandLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Investing in farmland and timberlandLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Commodities: features and ways to investLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Commodity pricing: carry, convenience yield and curve shapeLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Risk and return of natural resourcesLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Inflation hedging and diversificationLocked: included in All Access13 min
- 06
Hedge FundsLocked: included in All Access
What hedge funds are and how they differ from mutual funds, ETFs and private equity; the five strategy families (equity hedge, event driven, relative value, opportunistic and multi-manager); the direct and indirect ways to invest (limited partnerships, master-feeder funds, side letters, SMAs, funds of one, funds of funds and replication ETFs); and where hedge fund returns, risks and diversification benefits really come from, including the biases in hedge fund indexes.
- What makes a hedge fund differentLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Strategy families and equity hedge strategiesLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Event-driven strategiesLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Relative value and opportunistic strategiesLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Investing directly: partnerships, master-feeders, side letters and SMAsLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Investing indirectly: funds of funds and replication ETFsLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Where hedge fund returns come from, and why indexes flatter themLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Risk, return and diversification in a portfolioLocked: included in All Access13 min
- 07
Introduction to Digital AssetsLocked: included in All Access
How distributed ledgers and blockchains work (consensus, proof of work versus proof of stake, permissioned versus permissionless networks, smart contracts and tokenization), the main kinds of digital assets, how they differ from traditional financial assets, the direct and indirect ways to invest in them, and what drives their return, risk and diversification value.
- Distributed ledgers, blockchains and their financial usesLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Proof of work, proof of stake and network typesLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Types of digital assets: cryptocurrencies and tokensLocked: included in All Access15 min
- Digital assets versus traditional financial assetsLocked: included in All Access12 min
- Direct investment: wallets, exchanges and their risksLocked: included in All Access13 min
- Indirect vehicles, asset-backed tokens and DeFiLocked: included in All Access14 min
- Risk, return and diversification of digital assetsLocked: included in All Access14 min