Smart investors need to look at savvy alternatives—and in some cases that's anything but stocks.That's the verdict of some investment pros at Charles Schwab's 19th annual IMPACT conference of financial advisors in Boston this week.
"It's about bringing a new array of strategies to investors," Rick Lake, portfolio manager of Aston Lasso Alternatives Fund, told CNBC in a three-person round table discussion. Lake says investors are looking for alternative strategies, such as short selling, hedging and commodities.
Tom LaPointe, portfolio manager for the Third Avenue Focused Credit Fund, agrees, saying his focus is on "the alternative space", in areas such as distressed debt, high yield bonds.
"Investors are looking for income," says LaPointe, adding that investing in bonds is "condemning clients to 2-percent returns for the next ten years"
Thomas Meyer, CEO and Chairman of Meyer Capital Group Wealth Management, adds that his goal is to reduce risk for clients in the current environment.
"Individual investors don have any appetite for risk at this point," says Meyer, who. among other things, is trying to profit from the declining dollar and emerging market growth, while also emphasizing capital preservation.
