Saturday 12 May 2012

Benefits of Diversifying Your Portfolio with Alternatives

By Mike Holiday


In recent years, the monetary markets have been in turmoil, and numerous investors have gotten fed up with volatility. In the event you invest only within the most typical kinds of investments like stocks and bonds, you may find yourself dealing with lagging returns and volatility. An additional choice to think about is placing your cash into alternative investments. Allocating a part of your investment cash into options can provide you with numerous advantages.

Weather the Storms

One of the greatest benefits of diversifying your portfolio with alternative investments is the fact that you are able to weather any monetary storm that comes along. If all your cash is tied up in stocks and equity funds, it would only take one stock market crash to totally wipe out your investments. Nevertheless, when you have a few of your cash in alternative investments like real estate, antiques, Foreign exchange or commodities, your capital might be preserved.

Less Correlation

As you become familiar with the investment markets, you become aware of a phenomenon known as correlation. Some investments are highly correlated to others. This means that when one investment does well, the other investment does well. As an investor, sometimes you want to create a portfolio that is not correlated. By putting money into alternative forms of investment, you can get away from correlation. For example, if you put money into gold, its value is not tied to the stock or bond markets.

Serve Dual Purposes

In some cases, alternative investments can actually serve dual purposes. When you invest in stocks or bonds, you cannot really do anything with those stocks and bonds if the financial markets collapsed. By putting your money into alternative investments, you could have assets that you can use no matter what. For example, if you buy silver and gold coins, you will have something to trade with, no matter what happens in society or in the financial markets. If you invest in real estate, you will have property that you could live in, rent out or sell.

Hedge Against Inflation

Investing in alternative investments can sometimes provide you with a way to hedge against inflation. As the Federal Reserve continues to print more money and devalue the dollar, the purchasing power of your dollar continues to decline. If you put your money into stocks, there's a chance you could beat inflation, but it doesn't always happen. With many alternative investments, you can beat inflation because you are purchasing a hard asset. Its value tends to go up over time with the market.

Higher Returns

In numerous instances, option investments can give you a chance to earn greater returns than what you are able to get from the conventional monetary markets. For instance, whenever you invest within the stock market, obtaining eight or nine percent in one year is regarded as performing very well. In the event you place cash into option investments like Foreign exchange, you will find methods which you could make 100% per year or more.

Alternative investments might not be appropriate for each investor, but if these benefits sound appealing, you might wish to think about adding a few of them for your portfolio.




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