Avoiding Mea Culpas With Alternative Assets

The Wall Street Journal recently published an article exploring the merits of alternative assets. It included mea culpas from investment managers who had invested too much in alternative assets and a look at several segments within that category.

There are ways the managers could have avoided those regrets. Let me explain.

I've been writing about investing in alternative-asset investing for several years, with the belief that a moderate -- let me stress the word "moderate" -- allocation can reduce volatility. I have found long-short mutual funds, exchange-traded products that track carbon credits, Norwegian fishery stocks, Malaysian plantation stocks and more. Learn about as many of them as you can, but invest selectively and in small increments. ...