Looking to the Future

‘Don’t stay in bed, unless you can make money in bed. I look to the future because that’s where I am going to spend the rest of my life.’

- George Burns, legendary American Broadcaster and Author

In difficult times, the human psyche has a predisposition for nostalgia, because life was better in the past than it is today, and nobody can predict the future. This gives added pertinence to the above quote from George Burns, which he made during an episode of the George Burns and Gracie Allen show featured on primetime US radio between 1950 and 1958. In sharp contrast to today, the 1950s era was characterized by economic growth, prosperity, and upward mobility – it was the age before mega-government and central bank dominance.

Although it may be tempting to wallow in nostalgia at this particular juncture, it is far more pragmatic to heed the advice of Burns and look to the future, as this is what we all want our investment portfolios to be oriented towards.

Nostalgia: The Burns and Allen show

Source: archive.org

A futuristic perspective

Preqin, a leading provider of essential data and insights to the alternative investment community, publishes its futuristic (five-year forward) perspective every two years. And, in early October, we were treated to the latest edition, which looks ahead to 2027.

The key findings can be summarized as follows:

• Venture Capital is set to grow to over $4 trillion by 2027 in global AUM, with North America driving the largest share of global asset flows. 

• Despite a challenging macroeconomic outlook, demand for private capital remains resilient. 

• Private capital invested is set to double by 2027, with retail investor interest in alternatives predicted to fuel the next wave of industry growth. 

The latter point is particularly noteworthy, and we would like to share a more detailed quote from the report:

‘While private capital allocations have increasingly become a core part of institutional investor portfolios, high net worth investors have for the most part remained allocated to traditional investments. A lack of products that are tailored for retail participation has been one of the key barriers, but that is beginning to change, as the industry innovates, and the regulatory environment evolves. Preqin expects growing retail investor interest in private investments – especially among high-net-worth investors – to be one of the key drivers of private markets growth in the future, particularly as a higher portion of institutional investors are approaching their current target allocation to alternative assets and may be forced to revise their target based on market conditions.’

This concept resonates strongly with us as, at Stableton, as we don’t just design programs and secure deals for the most sophisticated and wealthy segments of the investment community: We are committed to overcoming the barriers to making alternative investments accessible, profitable, and understandable for everyone.