MarketWatch – A generation of investors nearing retirement is increasingly looking at alternative investments, such as commodities, real estate, private equity and hedge funds, not only to reach for higher returns but also to provide a hedge against risk through portfolio diversification.
The interest in defensively using asset classes once considered out-of-reach and risky comes after traditional asset allocation diversification across stocks and bonds failed to provide the protection promised when markets fell in 2008 and the first quarter of 2009.
