Six real examples of non-traditional strategies.
Most investors are familiar with traditional investments such as stocks, bonds and mutual funds. "Non-traditional strategies" refers to approaches that seek returns from sources other than those public markets, strategies that often behave differently and sometimes even profit when conventional assets are under stress.
The purpose of this page is educational, not promotional. Each example is drawn from an actual investment strategy, but names and identifying details have been omitted. The goal is to illustrate different types of thinking, not to recommend specific funds.
Distressed A-Class Office Real Estate
Strategy at a Glance
A private real estate fund purchasing high-quality (A-class) office buildings in smaller and mid-sized U.S. cities at unusually high cash yields, typically in the 15-18% range.
Target Return
~25%+ annualized (IRR)
Expected Holding Period
3-5 years
Use of Leverage
Moderate and disciplined; debt costs are comfortably below projected cash yields
The Core Idea
When most investors think 'office buildings,' they rightly think trouble. Many older or poorly located offices (B- and C-class) have lost tremendous value due to remote work and tenant migration.
But not all office properties are the same. The best buildings in desirable, growing secondary markets are still seeing strong occupancy and steady rents. Because fear has driven capital away from the entire office category, those A-class assets are now available at unusually attractive prices.
This fund's managers are deliberately stepping into an unpopular sector to buy quality at distressed prices, essentially applying Warren Buffett's maxim to 'be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful.'
Why It is Interesting
Contrarian Advantage
They are exploiting a market overreaction where perception ('offices are dead') diverges from reality ('top-tier properties are thriving').
Built-In Margin of Safety
High initial yields cushion returns even if prices recover slowly.
Prudent Leverage
It amplifies profits, but only because the underlying economics are sound.
Exit Flexibility
If resale conditions are not favorable after five years, investors can still benefit from steady cash flow while waiting for a stronger market.
What This Example Teaches
Even within a struggling asset class, pockets of opportunity can exist. A good manager does not run from bad headlines; they seek to separate what is temporarily unloved from what is permanently impaired. Non-traditional investing often begins with that kind of selective contrarianism, seeing the nuance the crowd misses.
Distressed Legal & Financial Claims
Strategy at a Glance
A global private fund that buys the legal or financial claims of companies in bankruptcy or litigation, essentially purchasing the right to future recovery at a deep discount.
Target Return
~18%+ annualized (IRR)
Expected Holding Period
~5 years (most positions resolved within 3-4 years)
Use of Leverage
Minimal: short-term credit lines only to match cash inflows and outflows
The Core Idea
This fund operates where some others fear to tread: inside complex bankruptcies, restructurings, and legal disputes. When companies face distress, their creditors or claim holders, many of whom are less sophisticated small businesses, often want immediate liquidity and are willing to sell their claims for a fraction of their value.
The fund's team, primarily lawyers and analysts trained to read dense legal documents, steps in to identify which claims are mispriced, meaning likely to be repaid at prices much higher than the purchase price once the dust settles. They seek to purchase claims at steep discounts to expected recovery, wait for resolution and collect the difference when the value is ultimately realized.
It is an example of a strategy trying to buy a dollar for fifty cents by finding opportunities that arise because some investors lack the expertise or patience to evaluate the situation.
Why It is Interesting
Uncorrelated Returns
Distress tends to spike in recessions, which means this fund can benefit when traditional assets are suffering.
Information Advantage
Success depends on legal analysis, not economic forecasting.
Behavioral Edge
Many investors cannot stomach the uncertainty or opacity of bankruptcy or litigation, creating persistent inefficiency.
What This Example Teaches
Some opportunities exist precisely because they are uncomfortable. The best investors learn to distinguish complexity from risk. Where some see confusion and danger, specialists see opportunity, and that asymmetry between perception and reality is what defines many non-traditional strategies.
Real Estate Entitlement Arbitrage
Strategy at a Glance
A private real estate development fund that specializes in entitlement arbitrage: purchasing land under option, securing higher-density zoning and construction approvals (entitlements), and then selling the now shovel-ready land to national homebuilders. We think of this strategy, like other strategies focused on purchasing options, as trying to risk pennies to make dollars.
Target Return
~20%+ annualized (IRR)
Expected Holding Period
~3-5 years
Use of Leverage
None: all projects are funded with investor equity.
The Core Idea
This fund does not build homes or retail properties; it builds potential. By focusing on land and existing properties that are undeveloped or underused inside growing metropolitan areas, it captures the value created when the property becomes legally ready for its greater-value use.
The process is deliberately low-risk; instead of buying the property outright, the fund typically secures an option to purchase, invests time and expertise in securing zoning and permits and exercises the option only once those entitlements are granted. The fund then sells the entitled parcel to large developers eager for approved sites, often at a significant markup.
It is a way of manufacturing value through knowledge, timing and permitting skill rather than through leverage or speculative construction.
Why It is Interesting
No Leverage
Returns are generated from process, not debt.
Risk Mitigation through Optionality
The fund can walk away if zoning or permitting fails.
Focus on 'Attainable' Projects
Targets middle-market projects; less glamorous than luxury, but faster-moving and more resilient in downturns.
Repeatable Expertise
Each success compounds local credibility with municipalities and builders, shortening future timelines.
What This Example Teaches
Not all high returns require high risk. Some come from value creation before capital deployment, from turning uncertainty ('Will the city approve this?') into an asset ('Now it is shovel-ready'). This example illustrates that non-traditional strategies can sometimes reduce risk precisely by stepping earlier in the value chain where insight and patience replace leverage.
Direct Working Interests in U.S. Oil Wells
Strategy at a Glance
A private energy fund that invests directly in non-operating working interests in U.S. oil wells, focusing on lower-risk, proven fields rather than speculative exploration.
Target Return
~7% annualized (IRR) plus substantial tax benefits
Expected Holding Period
~5 years (can extend depending on well life)
Use of Leverage
None: projects are financed entirely with equity.
The Core Idea
This fund is not chasing wildcat discoveries; it is investing in wells that are already producing or in regions with proven reserves where drilling outcomes are highly predictable.
The goal is twofold: generate cash flow from the sale of oil and natural gas, and provide significant tax advantages to offset earned income.
When structured properly, energy investments can deliver immediate deductions for a large portion of the invested amount, often offsetting wage income, business income or capital gains. Once production begins, only about 85% of the income from those wells is taxable, creating a built-in 15% tax shield on ongoing cash flow.
Despite the rise of renewable energy, carbon-based fuels continue to play a central role in meeting global demand. This makes energy drilling, done prudently, a potential source of diversification, income and tax efficiency.
Why It is Interesting
Cash Flow + Tax Synergy
Investors receive both current distributions and upfront tax relief.
Lower Geological Risk
Focus on proven reserves reduces the chance of dry wells.
Inflation Hedge
Commodity exposure can help portfolios hold real value in inflationary cycles.
What This Example Teaches
Some non-traditional strategies do not compete with traditional investments, they complement them. Energy funds like this can deliver income when markets are quiet and provide deductions when income is high. The underlying idea is simple but often overlooked; sometimes the return is not only what you earn, but also what you keep.
Short-Term Collateralized Real Estate Loans
Strategy at a Glance
A private lending fund that provides short-term, collateralized loans, typically up to 65% of appraised value and secured by residential real estate in central Texas.
Target Return
~8% annualized, paid through monthly distributions
Expected Holding Period
Ongoing (evergreen structure)
Use of Leverage
Minimal to none; used only tactically to manage liquidity and timing between loans.
The Core Idea
Rather than investing in real estate ownership, this fund is a lender, earning income from borrowers while maintaining a significant cushion of collateral value.
By lending only up to 65% of the property's value (based on the lower of internal estimates or third-party appraisals), the fund embeds a margin of safety into every loan, which is critical because lending is a business in which one risks dollars to make pennies. If a borrower defaults, the fund's collateral position allows it to recover principal and, in most cases, accrued interest as well.
The portfolio is diversified across dozens of borrowers and properties, reducing idiosyncratic risk and providing consistent income typically uncorrelated with stock or bond markets.
Why It is Interesting
Consistent Cash Flow
Monthly distributions may appeal to investors who value steady income.
Collateralized Downside Protection
Loans are secured by tangible assets rather than unsecured promises.
Attractive Spread
Borrowers pay a premium for speed and flexibility, providing investors higher yields than public credit markets.
Liquidity Control
The fund's evergreen structure allows periodic redemptions, subject to portfolio conditions.
What This Example Teaches
This fund illustrates a key principle of non-traditional investing: the difference between risk and volatility. Short-term lending on well-underwritten real estate may show little price fluctuation, yet it still requires careful judgment. The reward lies not in speculation but in discipline, knowing how much cushion exists between the loan and the property's true value.
Early-Stage Women-Led Venture Capital
Strategy at a Glance
A venture capital fund that invests in early-stage, women-owned businesses, especially those creating products and services for largely female consumer markets.
Target Return
~20%+ annualized (IRR)
Expected Holding Period
5-10 years (depending on exits and market conditions)
Use of Leverage
None: all capital is deployed as equity.
The Core Idea
The fund's thesis is both social and strategic: while women found nearly half of all new businesses in the U.S., they receive a tiny portion of traditional venture capital funding. That imbalance creates inefficiency; talented founders and loyal customer bases are overlooked simply because investors often do not understand their products or their markets.
By focusing on this gap, the fund identifies scalable, high-growth companies that can be financed on far more favorable terms than their male-led counterparts. It is a simple yet profound arbitrage of mispriced potential born of possible bias or lack of knowledge.
The team's value comes from pattern recognition: understanding not only what to fund, but how to mentor and structure young companies toward institutional-grade exits.
Why It is Interesting
Asymmetric Opportunity
A small segment of founders competes for a disproportionately small pool of capital, leading to lower entry valuations and higher expected returns.
Consumer Insight
Female-led ventures often address underserved markets with strong repeat-purchase behavior.
Alignment of Values and Returns
The social benefit (greater diversity in entrepreneurship) exists in tandem with, not opposition to, profit.
Time-based Discipline
While venture timelines are long, the upside is nonlinear: one breakout success can offset multiple moderate outcomes.
What This Example Teaches
Non-traditional strategies sometimes earn their edge not from complexity, but from seeing what others ignore. This fund demonstrates how markets can misprice entire populations and how disciplined investors can correct that inefficiency.
The role of non-traditional strategies.
Each of the examples above shares a common trait: a rational edge born from inefficiency. Whether that inefficiency is emotional (fear of office real estate), structural (lack of capital for women-led firms) or cyclical (distress in credit markets), non-traditional strategies look for opportunity where perception and value diverge.
Because most of these opportunities are episodic, illiquid and only available when funds are raising capital, timing and selection matter. Our role is to evaluate when these strategies can play a useful part in your long-term plan and, just as importantly, when they should not.
Non-traditional investing, at its best, is not about chasing the unconventional. It is about cultivating resilience, maintaining optionality and allowing your capital to compound through a wider range of possible futures.
The strategies and examples discussed here are provided for educational purposes only and do not represent an offer to sell or a solicitation to buy any security. Each investment opportunity carries distinct risks and suitability depends on your individual circumstances, liquidity needs and tolerance for loss.
Curious whether a non-traditional strategy fits your plan?
Suitability matters. Let's talk through your goals, your liquidity needs, and where, if anywhere, a non-traditional position might belong in your portfolio. We do not believe in pressure or hard pitches. We believe in the right relationship with the right people at the right time.
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