Trends Watch: December 14, 2017

EisnerAmper’s Trends Watch is a weekly entry to our Alternative Investments Intelligence blog, featuring the views and insights of executives from alternative investment firms. If you’re interested in being featured, please contact Elana Margulies-Snyderman.

This week, Elana talks to Neil Sosler, Partner, Singer Xenos Schechter Sosler Wealth Management.

What is your outlook for alternative investments?

We are positive on alternative investments such as real assets including real estate, farmland, infrastructure and timber.  These are assets that are economically vital and have low correlation to traditional asset classes such as stocks and bonds.  This will be more valuable as the stock market cycle ages and interest rates rise.  Additional benefits are inflation hedging properties of real assets which will become more important as the economy continues to grow.

We are also using alternative fixed income to reduce duration risk in our bond portfolios.  We feel that traditional, long-dated bonds such as 30-Year U.S. Treasuries are overvalued.  We are using reinsurance bonds and private lending notes to hedge against duration risk. 

What is your outlook for the economy?

We remain constructive on the global economy which is in the midst of the first synchronous upswing in years.  Growth is strongest in Europe and the emerging markets and we believe growth is beginning to accelerate in these areas.  Although the U.S. is furthest along in the cycle, its economy is firing on all cylinders and this expansion is likely to become the longest cycle in the country’s history.

What keeps you up at night?

Many things keep me up at night.  Geopolitical risk is something we all deal with but have very little control over in our day-to-day lives.  I also worry about income inequality and how that effects people in the U.S. and around the world.  I worry about having happy clients.  I know that if I continue to make good decisions with a clients' best interest in mind, all will be well in the long run.