Investing In Alternative Assets
Why Alternative Assets?
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A Real Asset is a tangible investment that has an intrinsic value due to its substance and physical properties.
Key considerations of any investor are whether their investment portfolio as a whole is structured as effectively as possible to offer growth, diversification, protection and opportunity. Here we look at some of the key reasons why Real Assets should be included in any portfolio to offer this.
Real Assets provide portfolio diversification as they are not correlated to traditional financial markets. Indeed, there are a wide array of diversification opportunities within the sector itself.
Their values also generally increase in line with inflation ensuring that they offer both growth and protection throughout each stage of the economic cycle. Their private nature tends to reduce volatility ensuring a greater element of “peace of mind” which has sorely been lacking in other markets.
Similarly, many real assets have offered unparalleled growth opportunities as witnessed over past decades, outperforming many traditional investment classes and providing attractive returns for investors.
Recently we have seen a sharp rise in investment by both private and institutional money towards real assets. This shift in favour of tangible assets has seen the overall sector grow from $23 Trillion to $43Trillion in the last 10 years (186% increase – an average 18.6% per annum). This trend is set to continue and is expected to be valued at $80Trillion by 2025.
Asset allocations into Real Assets by Institutional Investors has risen from 5% in 2000 to 25% in 2017 and is expected to rise above 40% by 2030, highlighting the mounting sentiment of savvy or professional investors for these assets which further reinforces the real growth opportunity the sector offers.
Another very powerful reason to embrace the opportunity these assets offer is the favourable tax treatment. The tax treatment of many real assets differs from that of other financial assets, allowances for potential depreciation may provide effective tax planning benefits to the investor and, dependant on tax residency, gains are free from tax altogether making them highly effective for both short- and longer-term tax and estate planning requirements.
Real Assets tick all of the boxes, providing investors with a robust investment opportunity, intrinsic value, significant growth potential, security and effective but simple tax efficiency.