Generation Alt®: The New Movement in Alternative Investing

Foreword

By Matt Botein, Chief Investment Officer & Co-Head, Blackrock Alternative Investors

For decades, people were taught that the basics of investing were simple—you built up your portfolio with a mix of stocks and bonds, adjusting the mix according to your age and tolerance for risk. And for years this was, in fact, the right idea—or at least right enough.

Then came the gut punch of the 2007 financial crisis. Since then, we’ve had to relearn everything we thought we knew. One tough lesson: Relying solely on a mix of stocks and bonds in a portfolio might not be enough anymore.

Unprecedented low yields, equities that seemed detached from fundamentals, bouts of volatility, and a high correlation between asset classes during periods of market ...