Alternatives & Crypto
Beyond stocks and bonds: real assets, private markets, and digital assets.
Everything beyond stocks and bonds lives here, from real assets to digital ones.
This topic covers the alternative classes institutions use to diversify: real estate and REITs, commodities and the futures curves that price them, gold as a store of value, and the private equity that owns companies away from public markets.
It then moves on-chain to cryptocurrency and the stablecoins and decentralized finance built around it.
The thread throughout is how each asset is actually priced and what it costs to hold.
Investing With Purpose writes these as working tools rather than hype, so you can weigh an allocation to alternatives on its real risks and returns.
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A REIT is a company that owns or finances income-producing real estate and pays out most of its earnings as dividends.…
Private equity is investing in companies that are not publicly traded, usually through pooled funds that buy…
Gold is the oldest non-government store of value still in active use. It pays no interest, produces no earnings, and is…
The commodity futures curve is a plot of futures prices for the same commodity across different delivery months. Its…
A cryptocurrency is a digital asset whose ownership and transfers are recorded on a blockchain, a distributed ledger…
A stablecoin is a cryptocurrency designed to hold a fixed value, usually one US dollar. Decentralized Finance (DeFi) is…
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Funds From Operations (FFO), Adjusted Funds From Operations (AFFO), and capitalization rate are the three numbers that…
Contango and backwardation describe the two possible shapes of a commodity futures curve. Contango means futures trade…
West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and Brent are the two global crude oil benchmarks. WTI prices oil produced and delivered…
Venture capital is equity investing in young, high-growth private companies that are too risky for banks and too early…
Hedge funds are private pooled investment vehicles that use a wide range of tactics, including short selling, leverage,…
Infrastructure investing buys long-lived physical assets that deliver essential services: toll roads, airports,…
Timberland and farmland are real-asset classes where the underlying investment is productive land. Institutional…
Art and collectibles, including fine art, rare coins, vintage wine, classic cars, and luxury watches, are tangible…
A **long-only** product holds assets and takes their full market exposure. A **hedged** product pairs longs with shorts…
Private credit, especially direct lending to middle-market companies, grew from a niche into one of the…
Commercial real estate, especially US offices, is working through the largest valuation reset since 2008. Hybrid work,…
WTI crude oil is the main price benchmark for oil produced and traded in North America. It refers to West Texas…
Brent crude oil is the world's most widely used oil price benchmark. It refers to a blend of North Sea crude streams…
RBOB gasoline futures are the main exchange-traded benchmark for wholesale gasoline in the United States. RBOB stands…
Henry Hub natural gas is the benchmark price for natural gas in the United States. It refers to a physical pipeline…
Natural gas liquids (NGLs) are the heavier hydrocarbons separated out when raw natural gas is processed. They include…
Propane Mont Belvieu is the benchmark price for propane in the United States, named after the Texas hub where most US…
Copper futures on the LME and COMEX set the global price for the red metal used in wiring, construction, and…
Aluminum LME futures set the world reference price for the lightweight metal used in cans, cars, aircraft, and…
Iron ore 62% Fe is the global benchmark grade for the main raw material in steel. The reference price is for ore with…
Steel rebar and hot-rolled coil (HRC) are the two finished-steel products that trade most actively. HRC is flat steel…
Gold futures COMEX is the benchmark contract used to buy or sell gold for future delivery, traded on the COMEX division…
Silver futures COMEX is the benchmark contract for trading silver for future delivery, listed on the COMEX division of…
Platinum futures NYMEX is the benchmark contract for trading platinum for future delivery, listed on the NYMEX division…