James Burron

Prior to the turn of the millennium, retail investors only had access to so-called long-only stocks and bonds (and cash products) either as individual portfolio holdings or packaged as mutual funds.  Some hedge funds started to be accessible to Accredited Investors ($5M in assets…basically the wealthy) later in the 1990s but these were not available to the masses, which put them at a disadvantage compared to those lucky enough to have a defined benefit pension plan as those lucky few had access to sophisticated investment opportunities.  In January 2019 this all changed.  New rules allowing liquid alternative funds as an option for RRSPs as well as retail investment accounts took hold and mom and pop investors could now take advantage of the strategies previously blocked to them.  This talk will explain what these funds are, their benefits and challenges, and how investors can make use of them in their investment planning.