May/June 2025
We’re at an inflection point in the diffusion of alternative investments in wealth management. When Blackstone established its advisor-oriented private wealth unit in 2011, the firm’s clients were almost exclusively institutional. At the time, “retail alts” consisted of currency and commodity mutual funds (if you squinted hard you might find an emerging species of hedge-fund-like liquid alternatives). The first wave of professionalized private market alternatives for advisors was barely nascent.
These days we have the democratizing of alternatives, outsize growth in so-called evergreen funds, and talk of private market alts in DC plans and models. It’s increasingly likely we’ll see Blackstone (and Apollo and others) reach their stated goal of having up to half their new flows come from the wealth channel. Clearly the next wave of alts in retail is upon us—and woe to any financial professional unaware of the advisory challenges this will bring.
This issue of the Investments & Wealth Review addresses these challenges.
Read the Full Issue→
