Increased take-up of alternative investments among retail, high-net-worth and retirement investors is turning into a reality, as three recently published surveys showed how financial advisers and both their wealth and retirement plan clients are increasing or considering adding to their alternatives holdings and strategic discussions. Brookfield Asset Management Ltd. found that 73% of wealth managers surveyed said clients’ discussions had evolved from defining alternative assets to determining which ones may be suitable for portfolio goals.
More than three-quarters (76%) of surveyed wealth managers said they expect client interest in alternatives to accelerate, according to Brookfield, which announced last month its private markets offering for defined contribution retirement plans. Brookfield’s study also reported that 69% of responding wealth managers who used alternatives thought the asset class should be at the core of a portfolio strategy for high-net-worth investors, and 80% said expertise in alternatives was a “must-have” among advisers.
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The growing interest was also a part of the 2026 BlackRock Read on Retirement survey, in which nearly three-quarters of the 401(k) and 403(b) plan participants surveyed said they want to invest in private markets within their retirement plan. BlackRock Inc., which offers access to alternative investments to many of its client types, learned that nearly half (45%) of the plan sponsors the firm surveyed have considered adding private market exposures, up 21 percentage points from last year. The most common reason sponsors gave for considering the addition of alternative investments was to improve participant outcomes.
Adviser use of alternative investments is also on the rise, according to analytics firm Escalent’s Cogent Syndicated study: 68% of responding advisers reported utilizing alternatives, and an additional 14% said they expect to start using them in client portfolios in the next two years. Currently, 21% of surveyed advisers said they are “heavy users” (at least 10% of assets under management) of alternative investments, and in two years, 40% expected to be heavy users. Respondents’ current average allocation to alternative investments was 7.7% and they expected it to rise to 10.7% in two years.
Brookfield found that about two-thirds (67%) of wealth managers said education helped them increase use of alternative investments, 71% said their clients’ concerns were easily addressed through education, and 61% said clients were more willing to try less-familiar products with clear guidance.
The Escalent study, however, suggested that advisers were often taking the lead in discussing alternative investments, with 40% of all respondents saying they started the conversation. Wealth managers who were “heavy users” of alternatives said they started conversations about adding the assets to client portfolios 55% of the time.
Respondents said clients initiated discussions just 18% of the time and started discussions on alternative investments in retirement accounts only 14% of the time. In nearly one-third (31%) of the conversations, advisers said they addressed client “misperceptions about particular investments.”
Brookfield raised the possibility of miscommunication between wealth managers and clients about their interactions regarding alternatives, with 69% of surveyed advisers saying clients invested in alternatives due to their recommendations, whereas only 36% of investors agreed. Also, while 58% of advisers surveyed by Brookfield worried their clients did not understand alternatives, only 39% of investors surveyed reported a lack of understanding.
Escalent found that 32% of advisers did not use alternative investments, but only 18% anticipated not using those investments in two years. The most-cited objections by advisers included alternatives not being suitable for clients (39%), lack of familiarity (23%), no interest (20%) and previous negative results (18%).
Surveyed clients told BlackRock that top barriers to using alternatives were risk, fees and complexity.
CoreData Research surveyed 600 wealth managers and 60 fund selectors in the U.S., Canada, Switzerland and the U.K. on behalf of Brookfield from February through April. BlackRock surveyed 453 plan sponsors, 1,312 workplace savers and 300 retirees in April and May. Cogent interviewed 711 financial advisers and 3,153 affluent investors with at least $100,000 in assets in February.
