Alternative Investments Overview, Fund Structures, and Fees
Free CAIA Level I lesson in Introduction to Alternative Investments. 44 min read, ~6,622 words.
CAIA classifies four alternative categories (Real Assets, Hedge Funds, Private Equity, Private Credit). Structured products live inside private credit. Alternatives are defined by four structural frictions (illiquidity, opacity, weak regulation, complex structures) and three return characteristics (illiquidity, inefficiency, non-normality). PE waterfall order: return of capital, then preferred return, then GP...
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What this lesson covers
- Content
- Example 1
- Example 2
- Common Mistakes
- Key Takeaways
- Exam Shortcuts
Learning objectives
- defining alts
- blurred lines
- history us
- history asia
- risk return characteristics
- goals
- buy sell side
- service providers
- legal structures
- fund types
- fund features
- fund terms
- drawdown fees
- waterfall calcs
- hedge fund fees
- fees and behavior
- return math
- irr
- irr problems
- modified irr
- other measures
- j curve
- notional principal
- return distributions
- moments
- covariance correlation
- beta autocorrelation
- std dev variance
- normality testing
- market efficiency
- time value
- forward rates
- arbitrage
- binomial trees
- single factor models
- hypothesis testing
- sampling problems
- forwards vs futures
- forward foundations
- forwards on rates
- carry forwards
- managing long short
- option exposures
- rate options
- rate swaps
- option pricing
- risk measures
- var
- benchmarking
- ratio measures
- risk adjusted
- pricing data
- appraisals smoothing
- alpha beta overview
- estimating alpha
- return attribution
- statistical issues
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