Evergreen funds drive RIA AUM growth
Ben Haber, CEO of Monark, on why 2026 is the year of alts
Evergreen funds turn private markets from an occasional product into a repeatable allocation. A pre-IPO deal is a one off purchase in a single company, but an evergreen fund can sit inside an advisor model, take subscriptions on a regular schedule, and offer limited redemptions, which makes it much easier for RIAs to use private credit or private equity the same way they use a mutual fund sleeve in a client portfolio.
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The operational fit matters as much as investor demand. Evergreen funds are continuously raising capital and usually allow periodic redemptions, so advisors do not need to manage capital calls or wait for a specific deal window. That makes them easier to place on brokerage and wealth platforms than traditional drawdown funds.
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The RIA use case is diversification, not just access. Monark describes advisors wanting alt sleeves and SMAs that can hold several evergreen private equity or private credit funds, which is a cleaner portfolio building block than a single name SPV tied to one company like SpaceX or Anthropic.
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This shift also changes the infrastructure economics. In commission based channels, evergreen products can carry an upfront sales load paid to distributors. In fee only RIA channels, the same product may need a no load advisor share class and a software licensing model instead of commission sharing.
The next leg of private market growth is likely to come from packaging, not just sourcing. As more advisors add evergreen private credit and private equity into model portfolios, the winners will be the platforms that make subscription, reporting, custody, and education feel routine enough for alts to become a standard line item in managed accounts.