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Diversify your portfolio with alternative investments
Building a modern portfolio requires a modern approach. We believe Willow Wealth has incomparable access to alternative investment offerings with generally low stock correlations. The traditional portfolio model of 60% large-cap stocks and 40% bonds used to be a solid investment strategy, but modern portfolios are increasing their diversification to stay equipped for the ever-changing financial landscape. Keep reading to see how investing in alts can potentially give your portfolio an edge over the investment strategies of yesterday.
What are alternative investments?
The sky is the limit when it comes to what is considered an alternative investment. Generally, however, alternative investments are any investments other than stocks, bonds, or cash. They could be anything from physical assets like art and precious metals to financial assets like venture capital and real estate investing. s.
What sets alternative investments apart from traditional ones?
Alternative investments aren’t typically traded on public markets like the NYSE or NASDAQ. Instead, they’ve traditionally been invested through more exclusive channels like hedge funds, wealth management firms, and between individual ultra-high net worth investors. Alternative investments typically have low correlation to traditional markets, meaning they may perform well when the stock market doesn’t, or vice versa.
Categories of alternative investments
Alternative investments encompass a diverse range of asset classes, each offering unique risk-return profiles and portfolio benefits.
Income: These are investments that give you a cash-on-cash return. Example: purchasing a franchise.
Growth: These are investments in goods or commodities that do not produce income, but could exponentially appreciate. Example: art, fine wine, coins or gold.
Balanced: These are investments that provide both income and growth. Example: purchasing a property that you then rent out to get income while gaining from its growth because of home price appreciation.
Types of alternative investments
The alternative investment landscape includes several distinct types, ranging from tangible assets like real estate to complex financial instruments and private market opportunities.
Real Estate: As one of the most well-known and appealing alternative investments, real estate typically appreciates over time. It is also considered as an investment that is inflation protected, or an inflation hedge, which could help diversify your portfolio.
Private Mortgages: It is a loan provided to a real estate owner over a 1-5 year contract. This type of alternative investment is considered low risk since loans are made at no more than 60-70% of the market value of the property.
Private Company Equity: Typically there is less competition to buy equity from a private company than a public company. Private companies are typically smaller than public ones, allowing investors to be more involved in the decision making process and operations than a public company would.
Structured Settlements are financial agreements settled for a plaintiff. Payment plans in structured settlements can vary case by case. For example, some may require an upfront lump sum, others require smaller amounts over a longer duration. Equipment Leasing: Investors pool their money into a portfolio of capital equipment that is then leased. Equipment leasing funds typically run for 7-10 years.
Equipment Leasing: Here investors pool their money into a portfolio of capital equipment that is then leased. Equipment leasing funds typically run for 7-10 years.
Oil and Gas LPs: this alternative investment can be appealing for both portfolio diversification and tax breaks but can come with increased volatility
Artwork and Collectibles: these are alternative investments that require market knowledge and patience, with the hope that the asset will appreciate in value over time.
Most popular alternative investments
Real estate and art are often the top performing alternative assets, regardless of broader market forces. Usually considered the “safer” and more predictable alternative to the stock market, inflationary pressures often bolster real estate’s potential, as value of real estate holdings go up in times of high inflation. Meanwhile, the global arts market will grow from $524 billion in 2024 to $552 billion in 2025 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.5%.
Why invest in alternatives?
Alternative investments can help diversify your portfolio and reduce your exposure to the stock market while generating inflation-beating returns. Another potential benefit of alternative investments is your ability to invest in them using retirement accounts like your IRA, which provides tax efficiencies.
Benefits of alternatives
Willow Wealth is ideal for savvy investors who are looking to earn higher returns, while diversifying their portfolio. The stock market experienced high volatility over the last several years, as soaring inflation led to aggressive rate hikes. Investors were left scrambling and the market braced for a possible recession. These fears have many investors concerned about where to invest their money.
Willow Wealth is the great way to diversify an investment portfolio with alternative investments, which can hedge against market volatility. Furthermore, you can put your money into art, private equity, and venture capital all on one platform, and diversify across different investment vehicles.
Considerations of investing in alts
Finding a good balance between risk and return is the first aim of any investment strategy. As with any important financial decision, investing in alts requires taking into account broader objectives versus risk tolerance.
How much should I allocate to alternative investments?
The traditional 60/40 portfolio is less conducive to growing and preserving capital in volatile environments. In this day and age, with low interest rates and potential inflation, investors should consider investments beyond bonds to help achieve their goals. Investment managers like BlackRock are increasingly suggesting that, for suitable investors, an allocation of up to around 20% to private market or alternative assets can enhance diversification.
How to access alternative investments
Platforms like Willow Wealth provide curated access to private markets for individual investors.
Investors can get started with minimum investments as low as $5,000 for their first investment (subject to certain exceptions). Willow Wealth offers a curated selection of opportunities across multiple asset classes, ranging from individual investments to diversified funds and automated portfolio solutions. While these investments carry risk, they open the door to opportunities across real estate, private credit, private equity, and more.
Join more than 500,000 members and start investing in private markets today at willowwealth.com.
What's Willow Wealth?
Willow Wealth enables you to build a private markets portfolio across real estate, private credit, private equity, and more. Our platform provides access to differentiated individual investments and diversified funds, as well as an automated investing solution that handles everything for you. Join more than 500,000 members and start investing today.
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View Willow 360 Managed Portfolios disclosures
Investments made on your behalf in a Willow 360 Managed Portfolio are highly speculative and entail substantial risks, including the fact that such investments are illiquid and subject to significant restrictions on transferability and redemption and that all or a substantial amount of the principal invested may be lost. No amount of diversification can eliminate such risks. Investment strategies such as the ones offered for Managed Portfolios may not be suitable for all investors, and potential investors must make an independent assessment of the appropriateness of any investment in light of their own objectives and circumstances.
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Willow Wealth Inc. is also the indirect owner of Willow Wealth Markets LLC, which is a broker-dealer registered with the SEC and a member of FINRA and SIPC. Despite its affiliation with Willow Asset Management LLC, Willow Wealth Markets LLC does not solicit, sell, recommend, or place interests in any underlying funds in the Managed Portfolios. All trades with respect to underlying funds in the Managed Portfolios will be effected through Atomic Brokerage LLC, an SEC-registered broker-dealer, with Pershing LLC acting as the custodian as appropriate.
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View important footnotes related to performance, returns, duration, and other information about Willow Wealth investments
1 Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Any historical returns, expected returns, or probability projections may not reflect actual future performance. All securities involve risk and may result in significant losses.
3 "Annual interest," "Annualized Return" or "Target Returns" represents a projected annual target rate of interest or annualized target return, and not returns or interest actually obtained by fund investors. “Term" represents the estimated term of the investment; the term of the fund is generally at the discretion of the fund’s manager, and may exceed the estimated term by a significant amount of time. Unless otherwise specified on the fund's offering page, target interest or returns are based on an analysis performed by Willow Wealth of the potential inflows and outflows related to the transactions in which the strategy or fund has engaged and/or is anticipated to engage in over the estimated term of the fund. There is no guarantee that targeted interest or returns will be realized or achieved or that an investment will be successful. Actual performance may deviate from these expectations materially, including due to market or economic factors, portfolio management decisions, modelling error, or other reasons.
4 Reflects the annualized distribution rate that is calculated by taking the most recent quarterly distribution approved by the Fund's Board of Directors and dividing it by prior quarter-end NAV and annualizing it. The Fund’s distribution may exceed its earnings. Therefore, a portion of the Fund’s distribution may be a return of the money you originally invested and represent a return of capital to you for tax purposes.
5 Represents the sum of the interest accrued in the statement period plus the interest paid in the statement period.
6 The internal rate of return ("IRR") represents an average net realized IRR with respect to all matured investments, excluding our Short Term Notes and Structured Notes programs, weighted by the investment size of each individual investment, made by private investment vehicles managed by Willow Asset Management LLCfrom July 1, 2015 through and including March 31, 2025, after deduction of management fees and all other expenses charged to investments.
7 Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses of the Yieldstreet Alternative Income Fund before investing. The prospectus for the Yieldstreet Alternative Income Fund contains this and other information about the Fund and can be obtained by contacting us or by referring to www.yieldstreetalternativeincomefund.com. The prospectus should be read carefully before investing in the Fund. Investments in the Fund are not bank deposits (and thus not insured by the FDIC or by any other federal governmental agency) and are not guaranteed by Willow Wealth or any other party.
8 You should not construe any information provided here as investment advice or a recommendation, endorsement or solicitation to buy any securities offered on Willow Wealth. The information provided here is of a general nature and does not address the circumstances of any particular individual or entity. You alone assume the sole responsibility of evaluating the merits and risks associated with the use of this information before making any decisions based on such information.
9 Statistics as of the most recent month end.
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Any financial projections or returns shown on the website are estimated predictions of performance only, are hypothetical, are not based on actual investment results and are not guarantees of future results. Estimated projections do not represent or guarantee the actual results of any transaction, and no representation is made that any transaction will, or is likely to, achieve results or profits similar to those shown. In addition, other financial metrics and calculations shown on the website (including amounts of principal and interest repaid) have not been independently verified or audited and may differ from the actual financial metrics and calculations for any investment, which are contained in the investors’ portfolios. Any investment information contained herein has been secured from sources that Willow Wealth believes are reliable, but we make no representations or warranties as to the accuracy of such information and accept no liability therefore.
Private placement investments are NOT bank deposits (and thus NOT insured by the FDIC or by any other federal governmental agency), are NOT guaranteed by Willow Wealth or any other party, and MAY lose value. Neither the Securities and Exchange Commission nor any federal or state securities commission or regulatory authority has recommended or approved any investment or the accuracy or completeness of any of the information or materials provided by or through the website. Investors must be able to afford the loss of their entire investment.
Investments in private placements are speculative and involve a high degree of risk and those investors who cannot afford to lose their entire investment should not invest. Additionally, investors may receive illiquid and/or restricted securities that may be subject to holding period requirements and/or liquidity concerns. Investments in private placements are highly illiquid and those investors who cannot hold an investment for the long term (at least 5-7 years) should not invest.
Alternative investments should only be part of your overall investment portfolio. Further, the alternative investment portion of your portfolio should include a balanced portfolio of different alternative investments.
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Willow Wealth Inc. is the direct owner of Willow Asset Management LLC, which is an SEC-registered investment adviser that manages the Willow Wealth funds and provides investment advice to the Willow Wealth funds, and in certain cases, to retail investors.Willow Wealth Markets LLC is an indirect subsidiary of Willow Wealth Inc..Willow Wealth Markets LLC is a broker-dealer registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (“FINRA”) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (“SIPC”). Information on all FINRA registered broker-dealers can be found on FINRA’s BrokerCheck. Despite its affiliation with Willow Asset Management LLC, Willow Wealth Markets LLC has no role in the investment advisory services received by Willow Wealth clients.
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