Alternative investments are increasingly central to portfolio construction, and new data suggests financial advisors and asset managers broadly agree on where the greatest private market opportunities lie – but not necessarily on what’s holding back wider adoption.
The CAIS findings were based on responses from 30 alternative asset management firms and 550 financial advisors, collected across 2024 and early 2025. All managers surveyed have products on the CAIS platform.
According to CAIS’ 2025 Alternative Asset Manager Survey, both advisors and asset managers ranked tax-advantaged strategies as the top thematic opportunity in private markets this year, followed by infrastructure and artificial intelligence.
Among asset managers, 73% selected tax-focused strategies as a leading opportunity, compared to 39% of advisors. Infrastructure was chosen by 60% of managers and 28% of advisors, while 47% and 26% pointed to AI, respectively.
Past those, the rankings started to diverage between the two groups. While managers placed single- or multi-family residential investments above GP stakes (cited by 40% and 23% of managers, respectively), advisors saw GP stakes as a more opportune area (18%) than single- and multi-family residences (15%).
Asset managers and advisors weren't too far apart in their ranking of sports investments – count Guggenheim Partners' monster deal for a stake in the LA Lakers on that list – with 17% of managers and 15% of advisors seeing sports as a compelling field to participate in.
The survey also found asset managers and advisors agreed excessive administration and paperwork were the top obstruction to alternatives adoption. But while nearly eight in ten asset managers saw that as a challenge, just under half of advisors echoed that concern.
Meanwhile, 48% of managers identified education gaps as a pain point, though only 23% of advisors said the same, suggesting a disconnect in perceptions of advisor preparedness.
Other concerns included overwhelming product choice (flagged by 33% of managers and 10% of advisors), lack of liquidity (27% of managers, 36% of advisors), and fees (13% of managers, 26% of advisors).
About one in three managers also cited the sheer number of available alts products as a challenge, compared with just 10% of advisors. Conversely, more advisors than managers pointed to due diligence, platform complexity, and investment minimums as hurdles .
Looking ahead, asset managers expect a moderate but meaningful increase in advisor allocations to alternatives over the next two years. Sixty percent of those surveyed anticipate that advisors will allocate between 6% and 10% of client portfolios to alternative investments by the end of 2026. Another 23% predicted allocations will exceed 10%, with a small portion seeing potential for allocations above 15%.
The survey also revealed a growing focus on the independent wealth channel among asset managers, with 93% of participating firms saying that accessing the indie space is a higher priority than it was two years ago.
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