US wealth management appetite growing amid fund solution proliferation
Wealth managers represent the fastest-growing investor segment in private markets. The value of assets available for deployment is significant. US economic success and rising stock markets and home prices mean there are increasing numbers of wealthy clients who could benefit from alts exposure. Boston Consulting Group estimates that global wealth investors could add $3 trillion of private markets investments between 2024 and 2030, to hit $5.8 trillion in total. For context, this growth would be the equivalent of the combined alternatives allocation of US public pensions funds that we track. Over the past 12 months, we tracked 846 intentions to invest in alternatives from 266 wealth allocators with a combined AuM of around $14 trillion.
Wealth investors have been largely excluded from the huge growth in private companies this century, while the number of public companies continues to fall.
Opportunities stretch across the private markets. Private debt offers wealth allocators an extra string to their credit bows, as more loans are originated and traded outside of traditional banking circles, while private real estate and infrastructure funds provide access to opportunities unavailable in public market equivalents.
Meanwhile, liquidity challenges for institutional private markets portfolios, due to a lack of private equity exits, have sharpened fund manager’s minds around the need to diversify investor bases.
Key trends
- Private credit dominates wealth allocations, with non-traded BDCs and interval funds doubling in size and set to surpass $1 trillion by 2030.
- Evergreen structures expand across asset classes, driving the rise of tender-offer private equity vehicles, stabilizing non-traded REITs, and powering new infrastructure launches.
- Wealthtech and consultants reshape distribution, integrating private markets into model portfolios and accelerating access through platforms, partnerships, and OCIO-led product innovation.
