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What is everyone's opinion on the difference between a wealth mgmt group with a larger firm (think Morgan Stanley, etc), vs a smaller boutique operation? I've always heard there are investment opportunities with the larger guys (such as private equity, etc) that you're probably not going to have access to with the smaller guys, but don't know how true that is.
Love that question. Private Equity (or any alts) is definitely different from mainstream investing.
There's debate on this. A lot of people say you need to have more than 5M before looking at alts/PE. I think the proper academic answer for who is the right investor (and how much should they invest) for alts/PE is a combination of these two things:
1. Total amount of investable assets
2. Amount of assets that absolutely will not be needed in the next 10 years.
PE is different than the stock and bond markets in two ways. First, the liquidity is VERY different (you may not have access to the money for 8-10 years). Second, PE is not an efficient market IMO.
What do I mean? The stock market is really efficient. That's why so many mutual funds underperform their benchmarks. The information age has made it to where a 20-year-old in Malaysia has access to the same information as an analyst on Wall Street. So, when investing in the stock market, low-cost funds/ETF's with broad market exposure are hard to beat.
This is not true with PE. There is actual value to be had with a better manager. It makes sense-you're buying, operating, and then selling an actual company. So, Bain Capital is really really good at it. A random startup PE fund in Dallas is probably not as good as Bain. What's the problem? Well, a lot of firms like Bain have 1M or 500k minimums.
If you have 3M, that's pretty tough to allocate to a PE/alt investment. Let's say 500k is devoted to your next few years (i.e. you're definitely spending 500k in the next 5 years). That leaves 2.5. Would I feel comfortable as a fiduciary having you put 500k or 1M into a PE fund? Probably not. 20-40% in an illiquid investment is a lot.
As for your question, you can probably tell I am a bit biased for fee-only firms. So, I would stay away from Morgan Stanley. They are dual-registered and sell their own products. Plus, brokers love selling you on the idea of "alts" and its really a non-traded REIT that makes them a lot and is hard to get out of. If you have to be at a big firm and you really want the option of access to PE, look at Creative Planning. Technically, a small RIA can still help you access PE if it is in your best interests. Small RIA's can be fantastic, just make sure they don't custody their own assets (i.e. they should custody at TD Ameritrade, Schwab, or Fidelity)
I worry that in your situation, no firm will recommend PE, but a dual registered firm will appease you by selling you non-traded REITS.