Model Portfolios Make Alts Mainstream
Ben Haber, CEO of Monark, on why 2026 is the year of alts
This points to alts becoming a default portfolio building block, not a one off special product. The real shift is from asking an advisor to pick a single private deal, to giving them a ready made sleeve they can drop into a client account like any other model allocation. That only works with evergreen funds, because they take subscriptions continuously, support periodic redemptions, and fit the operational rhythm of RIAs and robo-advisors much better than drawdown funds or bespoke SPVs.
-
In practice, this means packaging five or so evergreen private equity or private credit funds inside one SMA or model. The advisor does not need to handle capital calls, paper subscriptions, or manager by manager due diligence for every client. The allocation becomes a reusable template.
-
This is the same simplification play that made iCapital valuable. It turned a clunky process of PDFs, feeder funds, and admin back and forth into software, reporting, and one dashboard. Model portfolios are the next layer up, where the product is not just fund access, but portfolio construction for advisors who want an easy alt sleeve.
-
The constraint is liquidity engineering. Evergreen funds are easier to slot into portfolios because they accept money monthly and often allow limited redemptions, but that convenience comes from holding some liquid assets and managing flows carefully. That makes them more usable for wealth channels, even if they may not match the return profile of classic drawdown funds.
Where this heads next is a market where private credit, private equity, and selected pre-IPO exposure are sold through the same model portfolio rails as ETFs today. The winner will be the infrastructure layer that makes subscription, reporting, liquidity management, and distribution feel routine enough that advisors and robo platforms can add alts without changing how they already run portfolios.