The good, the bad and the ugly of esoteric investments

Many IFAs are concerned about using directly held esoteric or alternative investments in their clients’ portfolios. They are regarded as unconventional and the investment structures are often not regulated and their promotion may be outside the scope of the FSA. However, a case can be made for recommending esoteric investments if we look closer at two of the key assumptions conventional retirement planning is based upon – asset allocation and the level of returns we are forecasting. By esoteric investments, I am not referring to any form of collective investment scheme, be it regulate...