Alternative Investments

Click here for some recommended reading on Hedge Funds.

Click here for excerpts from Michael Banwell's presentation to the Investment Funds Institute of Canada (IFIC) Hedge Fund Forum.

The traditional approach to investing (utilizing stocks, bonds, cash) targets a return, relative to a benchmark (S&P 500, MSCI), which may be positive or negative.  Alternative investment strategies target absolute rates of return irrespective of the direction of the broad markets.    

The traditional approach to investing is restricted in the strategies used, and is therefore dependent on the direction of the market to grow capital.  Alternative investing has the freedom to use the widest possible range of financial instruments or strategies to grow capital and to control risk in all market conditions.    

Hedge Funds, as an example are not dependent on the direction of the market to generate positive returns, but are more dependent on the skill of the manager and the strategy being employed.  Alternative investments therefore have the ability to grow capital in all market environments, even negative markets.