Sanctuary Wealth strikes alts education partnership with CAIA

Sanctuary Wealth has introduced a new educational initiative aimed at enhancing financial advisors’ understanding of alternative investments.

On Monday, the national wealth firm announced it has entered into a partnership with the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst Association to introduce the Sanctuary Wealth AltVantage Program.

The program, known as SWAP for short, offers Sanctuary’s partner firms complimentary access to the Fundamentals of Alternative Investments certificate program on CAIA’s UniFi platform, which it launched in 2022.

Sanctuary Wealth’s partnership supported by asset managers Franklin Templeton and FS Investments.

Patrick McGowan, head of manager research and alternative investments at Sanctuary Wealth, will lead the inaugural group of Sanctuary partner firms to join the FAI certificate program, with plans for monthly in-depth discussions on alts market trends and portfolio construction strategies.

“With projections indicating a potential $20 trillion influx of capital into the alternative space in the coming years, it’s crucial that our partner firms are well equipped to navigate and capitalize on these opportunities for our clients,” McGowan, who was recently tapped to join the UniFi platform by CAIA’s advisory council, said in a statement Monday.

The FAI program, designed to help advisors better integrate alternative investments into their clients' portfolios, covers strategies such as private equity, private credit, real assets, and hedge funds, and it takes a goals-based approach to implementation. The program’s structure includes a quiz at the end of each module, with participants earning a certificate and digital badge upon completion.

Aaron Filbeck, managing director and head of UniFi by CAIA at the CAIA Association, highlighted the multi-year trend of alts democratization in the wealth management space.

“When implemented correctly, alternative investments can enhance client outcomes, but they also bring more complexities than traditional markets and therefore require further education,” Filbeck said.

Oksana Poznak, director of strategic partnerships at Sanctuary Wealth, described partner firms’ initial response to the SWAP initiative as “overwhelmingly positive.”

 “We’re trying to better equip our advisors for the growing demand coming from democratizing alternative investments,” she said.

The program is 15 hours long and qualifies for continuing education credit from several credential-granting bodies including the CFP Board, the Investments & Wealth Institute, CIRO, and NASBA.