Wealth Managers Could Oversee $3T in Alts by 2029
Alternative investments aren’t just a plaything for institutional and the world’s richest investors anymore, according to new research.

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The 1990s may be long gone, but we’re definitely hitting a new alternative era.
Alternative assets, like private equity, venture capital, and private debt, are quickly making their presence felt in client portfolios. Wealth managers are expected to oversee more than $3 trillion in alts in the US by 2029, according to Fuse Research Network. That’s a huge jump from today, when broker-dealers and RIAs manage about $1.7 trillion in private investments.
The new-found popularity is enticing traditional asset managers, like BlackRock, Nuveen, and Thornburg, to diversify into alts products that come with higher margins than traditional mutual funds and ETFs. It’s also creating a new way for advisors to open up potentially profitable investments to their clients.
“We wouldn’t be surprised by many advisors having a 20% allocation to alternatives by 2030,” said Thomas Kiley, chief distribution officer at Calamos Investments.
Everybody Wants In
No longer just a plaything for institutional shops and the world’s rich, the pool of investors dabbling in alternatives is growing fast. While many products are still only available to accredited investors, big stock market gains in recent years have increased the numbers of investors meeting the $1 million in investable assets that are needed to be considered a sophisticated investor, according to the report.
The alternatives fervor is raging internationally, too. Apollo Head of EMEA Wealth Véronique Fournier recently told Bloomberg some of the firm’s wealthy investors allocate as much as 50% of their portfolios to private markets. Today, most of the top investment companies offer clients some form of private investing, Fuse noted:
- Fidelity, JPMorgan, and PIMCO have all created internal arms to build out their alt products in recent years.
- Franklin Templeton acquired an alts shop to offer products to its clients while Calamos expanded its private markets capabilities with a subadvisor.
Going Alter-Native. All the enthusiasm for private markets really kicked into high gear in 2022, when the bond market had its worst year in decades, Kiley told The Daily Upside. Advisors are now rethinking both their sources of risk management, including hedged equity, managed futures, and options strategies, along with investments, like private credit, private equity and real estate.
“Price losses in fixed income hurt a lot of retirees and pre-retirees, and caused anxiety for a lot of advisors,” Kiley said.