**Research and Data in Alternative Investments:**
– Data and research vary widely across alternative investment classes.
– Art and wine investments may lack high-quality data.
– Emory Center for Alternative Investments at Goizueta Business School provides research on private equity, hedge funds, and venture capital.
– Definition of alternative investments is broad.
– Contrast between alternative and traditional investments.
**Access to Alternative Investments:**
– Growth of alternative finance in recent years.
– New avenues to investing in alternatives.
– Equity crowdfunding platforms allow investment in early-stage opportunities.
– Infrastructure as an emerging asset class.
– SEIS and EIS funds in the UK offer tax-efficient investing in early-stage ventures.
**Art Investments:**
– Studies on real annual return on art investments.
– Ambivalence of art gallerists towards treating artwork as an investment.
– Difficulty in valuing art.
– Factors affecting art valuation.
– Equity crowdfunding platforms for investing in art.
**Equity Crowdfunding:**
– Platforms allow the crowd to review early-stage investment opportunities.
– Online platforms act as brokers between investors and founders.
– Varying types of opportunities and due diligence on platforms.
– Success of equity crowdfunding in the UK and the US.
– Impact of JOBS Act Title III on equity crowdfunding.
**Infrastructure as an Asset Class:**
– Steady growth in the notion of infrastructure as an asset class.
– Limited access to high-net-worth investors.
– Institutional investors dominate infrastructure investments.
– Involvement of pension funds, insurance companies, and sovereign wealth funds.
– Emerging interest in infrastructure investments by family offices.
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An alternative investment, also known as an alternative asset or alternative investment fund (AIF), is an investment in any asset class excluding capital stocks, bonds, and cash. The term is a relatively loose one and includes tangible assets such as precious metals, collectibles (art, wine, antiques, vintage cars, coins, watches, musical instruments, or stamps) and some financial assets such as real estate, commodities, private equity, distressed securities, hedge funds, exchange funds, carbon credits, venture capital, film production, financial derivatives, cryptocurrencies, non-fungible tokens, and Tax Receivable Agreements. Investments in real estate, forestry and shipping are also often termed "alternative" despite the ancient use of such real assets to enhance and preserve wealth. Alternative investments are to be contrasted with traditional investments.
