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Alternative Investments

Expanding Frontiers

Kathryn Wilkens, PhD, CAIA

Alternative investments are no longer “alternatives.” This book shows how they really work—and how to analyze them with clarity, rigor, and modern data-driven insight.

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About

About

About the Book

Alternative Investments: Expanding Frontiers provides a modern, analytically grounded introduction to the rapidly evolving world of alternative assets. Bridging academic research, institutional practice, and data-driven analysis, the book goes beyond asset-class definitions to explore how alternatives actually function within portfolios.

Readers are guided through private markets, hedge fund strategies, real assets, and liquid alternatives with a focus on return drivers, risk mechanics, structural design, and empirical evaluation. The text emphasizes intuition, transparency, and practical implementation—showing how modern quantitative tools and data can be used to assess performance, manage risk, and make informed allocation decisions.

Designed for graduate students, investment professionals, and analytically minded practitioners, the book balances conceptual clarity with real-world relevance, preparing readers to think critically about alternatives in an increasingly complex investment landscape.

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About the Author

Kathryn Wilkens, PhD, CAIA

Kathryn Wilkens is a quantitative researcher, educator, and product builder whose work sits at the intersection of alternative investments, data science, and financial technology. She is the founder of Pearl Quest, LLC, where she develops research-driven analytical frameworks and forecasting systems designed to translate complex data into actionable investment insight.

With more than 25 years of experience across finance, education, and quantitative research, Kathryn is known for making advanced methods—such as generalized additive models, mutual information–based feature selection, and machine-learning pipelines—both practical and interpretable for professional investors. Her work emphasizes rigor, transparency, and real-world applicability.

Kathryn teaches in the Master of Financial Analysis program at Rutgers Business School, where she helps graduate students bridge financial theory, empirical research, and modern quantitative implementation.

Previously, she served as Curriculum Director at CAIA Association and as an advisor to the Financial Data Professional (FDP) program, contributing to the development of global education standards in alternative investments and financial data analytics. She is a research associate with the Center for International Securities and Derivatives Markets (CISDM) and has authored peer-reviewed articles and more than 40 published research summaries connecting academic research with practitioner decision-making.

Beyond finance, Kathryn serves on the Board of Directors of the Coalition to End Homelessness, where she applies systems thinking and analytical insight to community-level challenges.

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Contents

Table of Contents

PREFACE

  1. Why This Book Is Different
  2. A Living Text in a Living Market
  3. Release and Update Philosophy
  4. Who This Book Is For
  5. How to Read This Book
  6. Transparency and Ethics
  7. Looking Ahead

Chapter 1: Introduction to Alternative Investments

  1. 1.1 What Are Alternative Investments?
  2. 1.2 Public and Private Capital Markets
  3. 1.3 Why Institutions Allocate to Alternative Investments
  4. 1.4 Market Size and the Growth of Alternative Investments
  5. 1.5 Overview of Major Alternative Investment Categories
  6. 1.6 Introduction to Fund Structures
  7. 1.7 How Are Alternative Investments Different?
  8. Chapter 1 Summary: Alternative Investments
  9. Review Questions
  10. Discussion Questions
  11. References

Chapter 2: Private Equity

  1. 2.1 What is Private Equity?
  2. 2.2 Who Invests in Private Equity — and Why?
  3. 2.3 How Private Equity Creates Value (GP Lens)
  4. 2.4 Risk, Illiquidity, and the Role of Leverage
  5. 2.5 Measuring Returns in Private Equity
  6. 2.6 The J-Curve in Private Equity
  7. 2.7 Fees, Terms and the Cash Waterfall
  8. 2.8 Benchmarks, Indices, and Liquid Alternatives in Private Equity
  9. Chapter 2 Summary: Private Equity
  10. Review Questions
  11. Discussion Questions
  12. References
  13. APPENDIX: Secondary Markets (Optional Material)

Chapter 3: Private Credit and Distressed Debt

  1. 3.1 What Is Private Credit?
  2. 3.2 Who Invests in Private Credit and Why?
  3. 3.3 Return Generation in Private Credit Strategies
  4. 3.4 Capital Structure, Seniority, and Risk in Private Credit
  5. 3.5 Measuring Risk and Returns in Private Credit
  6. 3.6 Types of Private Credit Strategies
  7. 3.7 Fund Structures, Investor Access, and Liquid Alternatives in Private Credit
  8. 3.8 Benchmarks, Indices, and Performance Measurement in Private Credit
  9. Chapter 3 Summary: Private Credit
  10. Review Questions
  11. Discussion Question
  12. References

Chapter 4: Commercial Real Estate

  1. 4.1 What is Real Estate as an Alternative Investment?
  2. 4.2 Who Invests in Real Estate and Why?
  3. 4.3 How Returns Are Generated in Real Estate
  4. 4.4 Real Estate Equity Styles
  5. 4.5 Valuation Approaches in Real Estate
  6. 4.6 Risk, Illiquidity, and Return Measurement in Real Estate
  7. 4.7 Benchmarks, Indices, and Investment Vehicles in Real Estate
  8. Chapter 4 Summary: Real Estate as an Alternative Investment
  9. Review Questions
  10. Discussion Questions
  11. References

Chapter 5: Real Assets

  1. 5.1 What are real assets, and why invest in them?
  2. 5.2 Forwards, Futures and Commodities
  3. 5.3 Land
  4. 5.4 Natural Resources
  5. 5.5 Infrastructure
  6. 5.6 Intangible Assets
  7. Chapter 5 Summary: Real Assets
  8. Review Questions
  9. Discussion Questions
  10. References

Chapter 6: Hedge Funds

  1. 6.1 Hedge Fund Industry Structure
  2. 6.2 Global Macro and Managed Futures Strategies
  3. 6.3 Event-Driven Hedge Funds
  4. 6.4 Relative Value Funds
  5. 6.5 Equity Hedge Funds
  6. 6.7 Fund of Funds & Multi-Strategy Funds
  7. 6.8 Hedge Fund Indices
  8. 6.9 Other Methods of Accessing Hedge Fund Returns
  9. 6.10 Hedge Fund Performance Measurement
  10. Chapter 6 Summary: Hedge Funds
  11. Review Questions
  12. Discussion Questions
  13. References

Chapter 7. Digital Assets

  1. 7.1 Distributed Ledger Technology & Financial Applications
  2. 7.2 Financial Applications
  3. 7.3 Digital Asset Investment Characteristics
  4. Chapter 7 Summary: Digital Assets
  5. Review Questions
  6. Discussion Questions
  7. References

Chapter 8. Structured Products

  1. 8.1 Overview of Financial Structuring
  2. 8.2 Equity Linked Structured Products
  3. 8.3 Wrappers
  4. 8.4 Mortgage Backed Securities
  5. 8.5 Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities
  6. 8.6 Collateralized Mortgage Obligations
  7. 8.7 Collateralized Debt Obligations
  8. 8.8 Valuation and Payoff Diagrams
  9. 8.9 Investor Motivations
  10. 8.10 Liquid Structured Products
  11. Chapter 8 Summary: Structured Products
  12. Review Questions
  13. Discussion Questions
  14. References

GLOSSARY

APPENDIX 1: Performance Measurement for Alternatives

  1. Return Calculation
  2. Ex-post Absolute Risk Measurement
  3. Ex-post Risk-Adjusted Return Measurement
  4. Performance Measurement
  5. Reference
  6. Resources

APPENDIX 2 Key Equations

  1. Private Equity
  2. Private Credit & Distressed Debt
  3. Real Estate
  4. Real Assets
  5. Hedge Funds
  6. Structured Products
  7. Supplementary Formulas: Basic Investment and Statistics

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