Alternatives

Alternative investments are investments in assets that are not traditional stocks or bonds. They can be purchased in the private markets—examples include private equity, private credit, real estate, and infrastructure—or they are publicly traded, frequently in the form of hedged strategies, commodities, or digital assets.

Investors often include alternatives in their portfolios to diversify from the classic “60/40” split of equities and fixed income. The addition of alternatives to an investment portfolio may help improve growth, potential income, and diversification. In some cases, investors will capture the illiquidity premium (the potential for higher returns in exchange for committing to a longer investment period) of private markets assets such as real estate or private equity.

Invesco has been investing in alternatives for more than 40 years and currently has $180 billion of AUM in alternatives, making us an experienced and qualified provider. We offer investors access to alternatives across public and private markets, in fund structures that can meet investors’ varying needs.

Alternative investments differ from traditional investments in several key ways. Eligibility requirements often restrict access, with many private market alternatives available only to investors meeting specific income, net‑worth, or licensing thresholds. They are frequently more complex in structure, making the evaluation of risks, fees, and strategies more challenging. Liquidity is also a major differentiator, as many alternative investments involve multi‑year lock‑up periods, whereas liquid alternatives can be bought or sold more readily. Historically these characteristics may introduce higher risk and higher or less predictable fees compared with traditional assets.