Hate Volatility?

Most of the retired investors that I run across have one thing in common. They hate the volatility of traditional investments. Take Louise, for example.

Louise is a wonderful person who loves to shop for her grandchildren, take the occasional vacation with the "girls" to hit the slots in Vegas, and relax with a good book in the backyard. But there is something always lurking to ruin her fun-loving mood - her investment statement.

Regardless of what her advisor says about being properly diversified, she really hates it when her statement shows losses. She understands that over the long-term she should be in a good position, but that does not stop the fear and uncertainty from setting in. She trusts her advisor, whom she has been with for years, but isn't there something else that she can do to earn a reasonable rate of return and stay ahead of inflation without the ups and downs?

Louise may want to look to alternative investments that are fully collateralized and secured, pay a dividend or income and never fluctuate on her statement. Can't she just invest in CDs? Sure - but did I mention that many of these alternative investments can average market-like returns? You don't have to take my word for it - the Yale Univeristy Endowment has moved nearly 70% of its $24 billion portfolio into alternative investments. So how have they performed? Yale has a 10 year portfolio average annual return of over 15.8%. Take a moment to search for it online.

Let's think about this for a moment and make sure we are on the same page. There are alternative investments out there available to the masses that are secured, pay an income, never fluctuate and average market-like returns?

Yes.