Alternative Investment Opportunities in Oil and Gas

Impact Global Resources, since 2008, has been specializing in custom alternative investment programs with oil and gas.  In order for them to reduce the risk that goes into oil and gas exploration, IGR realized they needed to combine efforts with other opportunities that exist with an oil and gas space and expound on their current offerings and portfolios.  To that end, IGR now owns a production deal and they're looking to combine those opportunities and sell them as one.  Moving forward, those are the types of joint venture partnership deals they're looking to build.

Art Storck

Impact Global Resources

Source: vantageiras.com

With current oil and gas prices dropping, it's a strong buying signal, which is something IGR passes off to their investors.  According to Art Storck, Senior Sales Leader at IGR, investing in oil and gas makes sense because of the boutique niche it plays in their space.  Even with the decline in oil prices, the way that their deals are structured, there still is an opportunity for their investors to make money, he says, adding that's ultimately the forefront of their values at IGR.

Regardless of which space you invest in, whether it's exploration or production, Storck says there's something called "mailbox money," which generates monthly cash flow back to the investors.  IRG sets aside money on a monthly basis in order to provide re-work opportunities where there is possible increase in production, which continues to add to the monthly cash that comes back to the investor.

While there's misconceptions in every industry, Storck says it's really about the conception of the investor and what is the reason behind some of the issues out there in the industry.  IGR stands behind communication and in doing so, reaches out to their investors weekly or even daily to keep them abreast as to what's going on in the field.  This is what Storck believes puts IGR ahead of their competition.  

Being very involved in the business, Storck believes oil prices will continue to stay low at around $60 a barrel and doesn't anticipate they'll go much less than that.  He sees a forecast in 2015 of it getting back up to $70-$75 and by 2020, back up to $100-$110 a barrel.  

Art Storck is the Senior Sales Leader at Impact Global Resources and spoke with Alternative Investing News providing online alternative investing video news content.  Alternative Investing News is a featured network of Sequence Media Group.  This video was brought to you by Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans.

Where to Find Alternative Investments

Given the tremendous size of the alternative market, access still presents a problem for most people to alternative investments.  With 75% of advisors now recommending a 10-20% allocation into alternatives, Todd Ryden, CEO of FNEX, says that the market is slowly improving, yet people still need to educated.  As more people hear about alternatives, the advisor space has to wake up and provide some of those alternative strategies that individuals are looking for, explains Ryden.  He feels we're in a "deal discovery" standpoint from a high net-worth's perspective with a lot more attention coming to this market in the next couple of years.   

Todd Ryken

CEO, FNEX

Source: hedgethink.com

 Ryden agrees that alternatives are designed to produce returns that are uncorrelated with stocks and bonds.  If you're a regular investor just looking at bonds, everything is "extraordinarily expensive," he says and when things that don't correlate begin to do so, you need to think of a way to be non-correlated.  Some alternative strategies will allow for that, he says.  

All of the technical indicators speak to the fact that we're at a top or nearing a top and Ryden would be looking to "take some chips off the table" or begin to position a portfolio so that in a downside move it won't be harmed as much.  

Todd Ryden is the CEO of FNEX, the first alternative investment marketplace providing a broad platform for investors to source a variety of private investments, such as private shares in companies, secondaries in well-known companies, hedge funds and basically everything that doesn't change on an exchange.  Ryden spoke with Alternative Investing News providing online alternative investing video news content.  Alternative Investing News is a featured network of Sequence Media Group.  This video was brought to you by Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans.

Pain Points of Registered Investment Advisors in Alternative Investments

There are many opportunities for registered investment advisors and independent broker dealer firms in the world of alternative investments.  They do face some challenges, however, and JP Dahdah, CEO of Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans, talks with Alternative Investing News about the pain points these advisors and brokers face.

One of the biggest pain points in allocating more client funds to alternative investments is doing due diligence of the alternative investment products.  Some firms don’t have the bandwidth to do extensive due diligence, notes Dahdah, and because they’re not publically traded, it can be more difficult to identify which products are suitable for their high net-worth clients. 

Data integration is another pain point Dahdah points out.  As these are not publically traded entities, they’re not valued on a daily basis.  For investment advisors, it can be frustrating to pull the information of multiple companies that are serving as custodians for the assets and having to put in a double entry into their management software.  He says that any time you can work with a Self-Directed IRA company or custodian that provides that data integration, it will alleviate some of those pain points. 

Most investment advisors are billing their clients on an assets under management way.  As such, Dahdah says it’s important to aggregate the value of the alternative investments that are being held at third party custodians so they can get a true sense of the client’s assets, which makes it easier for them to bill and illustrate to their client their overall portfolio on one statement.  He feels technology is an area where there are still a lot of pain points in the industry but that it’s getting better.  Anything related to the viability or suitability of alternative investments in a client portfolio, having access to alternative products, especially liquid offerings, can sometimes be cumbersome. 

Dahdah believes the market is shifting with the popularity of alternative investing and it’s become easier for registered independent advisors and registered representatives to identify more comprehensive lists of alternative investments for their clients.

Vantage provides complimentary custodial solutions for firms.  Dahdah started as a registered investment advisor and when he started Vantage, he had a good understanding of what registered investment advisors and independent brokers need out of a custodial company.  Vantage was developed and designed to offer a personalized level of service and the advisors and brokers coming from a traditional background, are gaining the experience of working with a new company and having to direct assets to another entity.  Dahdah feels they’re at the mercy of those entities and the level of service they provide.

JP Dahdah

CEO, Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans

Source: linkedin.com

At Vantage, they’ve looked hard at the pain points that advisors have, whose reputations are on the line, to make sure the new relationship they’ve created with a financial services company doesn’t drop in the customer service area.  At Vantage, they take the approach of developing a company that allows the advisors to feel comfortable.  They know that their high net-worth individuals that are placing money in these opportunities through Vantage, are still able to receive a “boutique-style,” high level of service that will create efficiency in their transaction experience, as well as a level of knowledge about the types of alternative investment intricacies with low fees. 

JP Dahdah is the ‎CEO at Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans and spoke with Alternative Investing News providing online alternative investing video news content.  Alternative Investing News is a featured network of Sequence Media Group.  This video was brought to you by Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans.

Hedge Fund Report, AIN News Update

A new Spectrum Group report, “The Use of Hedge Funds and Private Equity in the Portfolios in the Wealthy,” examines investors with a net-worth of at least $5 million and determines how much of their assets they place in alternative investments, such as hedge funds.  Generally considered by the public to be high-risk, hedge funds are limited to accredited investors. 

According to this report, wealthy investors continue to invest in hedge funds as an alternative to the stock market, protecting their return on investment, while shielding their portfolios against the volatility of the stock market.  Those who invest in alternatives are more likely than those who don’t to describe their risk tolerance as aggressive or most aggressive.

Among investors with a net-worth of $5-$25 million who own alternatives, such as hedge funds, those who consider themselves very knowledgeable about investments are more likely to own alternatives than those who don’t. 

The report also revealed that hedge funds receive more money from alternative investors than any other class of alternatives, particularly those with a net-worth of $25 million or greater.  42% of investors with a net-worth of over $25 million own hedge funds and 69% of investors with a net-worth of $125 million or more are invested in hedge funds.  

 Alternative Investing News, provides online alternative investing video news content.  Alternative Investing News is a featured network of Sequence Media Group.  This video was brought to you by Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans. 

Alternatives a Hot Sector in the Financial Industry

Considered a niche within the financial industry, alternative investments are seeing some hot trends right now within this very specific sector.  Registered, non-traded REIT’s have gotten a lot of press recently, according to JP Dahdah, CEO of Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans.  Reg-D offerings are limited to accredited investors and so the audience that can actually invest in these products are limited to about eight million Americans, or about 9% of the population. 

From a popularity perspective, Dahdah says a lot of real estate-based alternative investments are very popular, as this is a sector that many Americans feels very comfortable with, as tangible assets are backing the investment up.  He believes a lot of people are trying to hedge the volatility from the stock market into investment opportunities that have that tangible factor to it. 

JP Dahdah

CEO, Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans

Source: linkedin.com

Alternative investments are becoming the hottest sector within the financial industry because of the yield they can produce and they help the advisor create an asset allocation strategy that hedges against stock market-based investments, explains Dahdah.  Being able to place clients in non-correlated asset classes, whether those are in real estate or oil and gas has helped registered investment advisor firms and in broker dealer companies to be able to differentiate themselves from a lot of the big brokerage houses across the country.  

JP Dahdah is the ‎CEO at Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans and spoke with Alternative Investing News providing online alternative investing video news content.  Alternative Investing News is a featured network of Sequence Media Group.  This video was brought to you by Vantage Self-Directed Retirement Plans.