What is considered an alternative investment? In a recent survey from Columbia Threadneedle Investments, advisers were asked that question.
Respondents tended to coalesce around the opinion that alternatives are asset classes that are different from stocks and bonds and that provide access to non-publicly traded markets, with the largest cohort agreeing that private real estate funds (75 percent) and private equity funds (74 percent) are alternatives.
Some 63 percent of survey respondents consider private debt funds alternatives, while only 51 percent consider public real estate funds (e.g., REITs) alternatives. Some 60 percent see commodities funds as an alternative investment, and 54 percent view bitcoin as an alternative.
The survey also asked about the main reasons for
