We have heard the saying that “the rich get richer,” and we all know that it takes money to make money. If it seems like wealthy people have special tools we don’t know about that help them grow their wealth more successfully, alternative investments could be the key.

Alternative investments — like private equity, direct real estate and reinsurance — have been staples in the high-net-worth portfolios of individuals and institutions for decades. For those new to the concept, alternatives are investments that tend to move independently from the stock market, unlike traditional asset classes such as stocks and bonds.

Average retail investors generally have been relegated to those traditional asset classes, and alternatives have been virtually unavailable to them — until recently.

VOLATILITY

Since 2000, retail investors in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index have had to stomach two major market crashes, losing more than 49 perce