Today, Endurance Strategies is in position, after 15 years in the alts trenches building relationships, working internally at multiple real estate firms, hedge funds, private equity, private credit, fintechs, and investment banks, to offer independent advisors unparalleled education, knowledge, resources, and an insiders perspective in order to fully maximize the potential of alternative investments. 

The journey of accumulating and building the knowledge, experience, insights and relationships began when my family moved to Atlanta in 2006.

After working as an investment banker in Atlanta with two of the largest financial institutions in the U.S.,  Andres Sandate founded Endurance Strategies in 2010 to serve emerging alternative investment managers and their clients as a consultant and placement agent. For the past decade, Andres has also served as a senior executive and voting investment committee member at multiple alternative investment firms including hedge funds, private equity firms, private credit firms, real estate investment firms, fintechs, and multi-asset managers. 

During his nearly 20 year career working in investment banking, asset management, and alternative investments, Andres has worked on billions of dollars in transactions. Through all of these deals, individual investors rarely had an insiders seat at the table and an opportunity to participate. In 2021 Endurance Strategies set out to begin changing this dynamic.

As a first step, Andres launched ATLalts, a media platform dedicated to educating investors about alternative investments and private markets investing. On the heels of launching the ATLalts podcast, Andres began laying the groundwork to operationalize his vision to democratize private markets investments for individual investors. This included additional roles in financial technology companies and the rapidly growing area of private credit.

The next step in the evolution was partnering with a dually registered registered investment advisor (RIA) and independent broker-dealer called Gramercy Park Wealth Advisors, LLC / GPWA, LLC. GPWA possess a team of experienced professionals, an unwavering commitment to ethics, a partnership ethos to deliver practical and cost-effective solutions to clients, and always strives to exceed the fiduciary standard of care. Partnering with GPWA was a logical and important step to offer a variety of additional solutions to clients. 

As the financial industry becomes increasingly complex and advisors seek new ways to grow and evolve their practices, big issues like technological change brought on by AI and blockchain technology, longevity, health and wellness, income, and legacy are top of mind for clients. Alternatives isn't the only answer to these important issues, but certainly can help advisors in navigating a path forward for clients.

Yes. Many investment sponsors have made it possible to utilize qualified plan assets such as IRAs and other retirement assets to invest in alternatives. Every sponsor is different in how they approach this important issue and each offering will outline if and how financial advisors and their clients can invest qualified dollars into their offerings.

Every investment opportunity is different and each offering has unique terms, conditions, investment objectives, and target duration. Core to many of the newer alternative offerings for retail investors and private wealth advisors is the enhanced liquidity features. For example, interval funds and non-traded BDCs may offer quarterly redemption features. Advisors should be mindful however that alternative investment strategies are not designed to be traded on a daily basis like stocks, ETFs, and other liquid strategies. If you are going to commit to employing alternative investments in your portfolio or your client portfolios, you need to have the resources, time, patience, and correct expectations.

Generally speaking private markets investment opportunities will require investors to commit capital for multiple years at a minimum. Traditional LP funds have 8-10 year lives (or more) but this is not the case with newer registered offerings . Some registered offerings are designed with a 3-4 year targeted hold but offer regular tender or redemption windows. Every investment comes with risks and loss of principal is possible, and past investment results are not a guarantee of future returns.

We offer two very simple engagements for financial advisors who engage us. You can engage us for a basic feasibility analysis which is a one month engagement and is popular with advisors just getting started on their alts journey. A second option involves a multi-month engagement (typically around three months) that is more comprehensive. Some clients may desire a customized engagement, in which case we will scope out the proper deliverables and time involved to accomplish your objectives. We are not paid by technology vendors, product sponsors, or fund managers.

Your clients are yours and the lifeblood of your practice. I only work with the business owners, principals, and staff of the  financial advisory firm. If you want support in making a presentation to a prospective client I can help, but I will never speak to your clients or interact with your clients unless you say so and are present.

Ultimately you are the owner and entrepreneur and must make this decision. Even if you have 10% of your client base invested in alternatives, these are likely some of your largest and most important relationships. The larger the client the more likely they are hearing about and should be invested in alternatives. Reduced minimums and suitability standards that are different than accredited investor requirements have made investing in alternatives possible for individual investors that simply wasn't the case five and ten years ago.

Getting exposure to alternatives will not happen overnight. The first step is to sit down and evaluate your objectives. A feasibility analysis will identify how you can implement alternatives, where to consider starting the process, and which segments of your client base may be the most attractive candidates to start discussions. Developing model portfolios with alternatives is a step many advisors choose to make after discovering their options and weighing the benefits. A phased approach to implementation can occur over several years. Getting colleagues, advisors, the operations team, and other vendors up to speed takes time. None of this needs to be disruptive to delivering a great client experience to your long-term clients. A move from 0% alts to 3-5% and eventually 7-10% before increasing to 15-20% takes time without big liquidity events or asset inflows.