Evaluating Alternative Investments: A Practical Workbook

Deciding whether to include an alternative investment in a portfolio requires more than conceptual appreciation — it requires the ability to evaluate specific opportunities against consistent criteria. This workbook provides the analytical tools to do that for each major alternative asset category. By the end of this course you will be able to apply a due diligence checklist to a real estate opportunity, analyse a REIT's dividend yield and portfolio composition, evaluate a commodity allocation proposal using historical return and correlation data, and assess a private equity fund summary using standard metrics. What you will learn: - Completing a real estate investment due diligence checklist: location, income, expenses, financing, and exit - Evaluating a REIT: yield, funds from operations (FFO), payout ratio, and sector concentration - Analysing commodity exposure using return history, volatility, and correlation to a stock/bond portfolio - Reading a private equity fund data summary: vintage year, net IRR, TVPI, and RVPI - Assessing digital asset exposure: sizing, volatility management, and custody considerations - Building a simple alternative allocation worksheet for a hypothetical balanced portfolio - Comparing two alternative investment opportunities using a side-by-side evaluation template - Conducting a stress test of an alternatives allocation under equity crash and inflation spike scenarios Every module includes a completed analytical example followed by a practice exercise using a different asset. Templates are formatted so you can adapt them to real evaluation contexts. Worked examples use realistic but simplified numbers to keep the arithmetic accessible without losing analytical rigour. This course is designed for investors and finance professionals who want a structured, analytical framework for evaluating alternatives. Basic familiarity with investment concepts is assumed. This content is purely educational and informational; it does not constitute financial advice. Consult a qualified financial professional before making investment decisions.