It is important to diversify your portfolio so that if one area goes down, hopefully other parts won’t. Funds focused on alternative assets can also boost your returns. Private equity investments, for example, offer the prospect of high growth and diversification away from equities because they are unlisted. Private investors generally can’t access this asset class directly, but there are a number of investment trusts focused on this area. However, they are high-risk, so they should only account for a small portion of larger portfolios. Infrastructure, by contrast, is a lower-risk and high-yielding way to get exposure to alternative investments.
NEW ENTRANT: HGCapital Trust (HGT)
Fund-of-fund portfolios are a great source of diversified private equity exposure, but trusts that invest directly can be a more targeted play if you have specific preferences. They are also less at risk of racking up hefty overall charges, and can be easier to assess and monitor than a fund of funds.