But some don't think retail investors are ready for the level of risk in the asset class.
Alternative investments, as the name suggests, is an asset outside of traditional investments like stocks, bonds, and cash.
Investors choose from private-equity funds, venture capital, hedge funds, real estate, and art, among other areas.
Such returns have attracted state pension funds, university endowments, and, most recently, individual investors from the ultra-high-net-worth to the Joe Schmoes.
Companies like iCapital, Allocate, RealBlocks and CAIS (pronounced case) launched to help wealth-management firms usher their clients into sought-after private market funds.