Wealth management for accredited and qualified investors
Five reviews stand between an offering and your portfolio.
Before any alternative investment reaches a client portfolio, it passes the five-step due diligence framework written into our Form ADV: initial screening, strategy and structure review, document review, suitability review, and ongoing monitoring. We receive no compensation from any sponsor or issuer, so the only question at each step is whether the investment belongs in your plan.
The situation
How an alternative investment reaches a client portfolio
Offerings arrive from every direction once a household clears the accredited line: a custodian’s platform, a private bank, a former colleague raising a fund, a tender offer at a company you once worked for. Each comes with its own deck and its own deadline. What none of them comes with is a reason it belongs in your plan, and that is the question this service exists to answer.
The service is the process. Every alternative investment we consider for a client, whether we found it or you did, moves through the same five reviews before a dollar is committed: initial screening, strategy and structure review, document review, suitability review, and ongoing monitoring after the investment is made. The framework is written into our Form ADV, which makes it a standard we are held to rather than a preference we describe.
It sits inside the rest of the relationship. Private allocations are sized against the plan our financial planning work produces, held alongside the public portfolio our investment management service runs, and coordinated with your CPA through tax planning. The methods for each kind of alternative have their own pages: private equity and private markets for growth, alternative income strategies for income, and pre-IPO and qualified investor opportunities for a stake in a single private company.
Why it’s complex
Five decisions the process forces
Which job, and which toolkit
Growth the public markets cannot supply, income beyond bonds, and ownership of one private company are three different jobs with three different structures, fee patterns, and exits. Naming the job first decides which method applies and rules out the offerings that answer a question you never asked.
The strategy pagesEligible is not the same as suitable
Accredited status opens the door at $1 million of net worth outside the home. Qualified-client and qualified-purchaser status open further doors at $1.4 million under management or $2.7 million of net worth, and at $5 million in investments. Each is a legal floor set without any knowledge of your plan. The suitability review is where the plan gets a vote.
Why selectivity mattersLiquidity as written, not as described
A drawdown fund returns capital when holdings are sold. An evergreen fund repurchases a capped share each period and may suspend. A private-company stake waits for a listing, a sale, or a tender. We plan on the strictest reading of the documents and confirm the household never needs the money sooner.
Interval and tender-offer termsWhat the fees and the marks conceal
Management fees, carried interest, fund expenses, placement charges, and a feeder’s own layer each appear somewhere in the documents; the total appears nowhere. Reported values between audits are the sponsor’s estimate. The structure review adds up the first and tests the second.
Diversified or overengineered?How much the plan can carry
The right size is set by what is already illiquid, what the next decade must fund, and how large a loss would leave the plan unchanged. It is never set by the allocation an offering suggests. Where the same company or sponsor already appears in a 401(k), an option grant, or another fund, the concentration is counted rather than assumed away.
How we manage portfolio riskSources: 17 CFR §230.501(a); SEC Release IA-6961 (Apr. 28, 2026); 15 U.S.C. §80a-2(a)(51); 17 CFR §230.503(a); the five-step framework is from TFSC’s Form ADV Part 2A, Item 4, on file at adviserinfo.sec.gov.
Our approach
The five reviews, in order
This is the due diligence framework in our Form ADV, applied to every alternative investment we consider for a client. It runs the same way for an offering we sourced, one your custodian’s platform lists, and one a friend forwarded. Nothing skips a step, and no step is shortened because the presentation was good.
Initial screening
Who is asking for the money. We check the sponsor or manager’s registration status and regulatory history, ownership and key personnel, audited financial statements where they exist, prior performance disclosures for how they were prepared rather than what they show, the Form D on file with the SEC, and references we choose rather than the ones supplied. Most offerings that fail, fail here, and quietly.
Strategy and structure review
What the vehicle does and on what terms: the investment strategy and where its return is meant to come from, the fee schedule at every layer, lock-up and liquidity provisions as written, fund-level borrowing, how holdings are valued between audits, the counterparties and the custodian holding the assets, and every conflict of interest the sponsor discloses or should have.
Document review
The offering or private placement memorandum, the subscription agreement, the partnership or operating agreement, the sponsor’s own Form ADV where one exists, audited financials, and the supplemental materials. We read for the places where the documents and the pitch disagree, and we keep notes of what was asked and what was answered.
Suitability review
Whether this investment belongs in your plan: objectives, risk tolerance, the liquidity the next decade requires, time horizon, accredited or qualified-purchaser status, concentration against everything you already own, and overall financial circumstances. The same offering can pass for one household and fail for the next, which is why we do not run alternatives from an allocation model.
Ongoing monitoring
After the investment: sponsor reporting, capital calls and distributions, audited statements, performance attribution, changes in strategy or key people, regulatory disclosures, and amendments to the offering documents. A material change is weighed against your plan and raised with you when it could affect suitability, liquidity, fees, or whether we still recommend holding. Our Quarterly Rounds keep the position in view with the rest of the balance sheet.
The work
What you’ll work through with us
- A written role statement for any alternative allocation, agreed before offerings are reviewed
- An eligibility confirmation against the accredited, qualified-client, and qualified-purchaser tests, with the documentation a sponsor will ask for
- A five-step diligence file for each offering considered: screening notes, structure and fee summary, document review, and a suitability memo
- A liquidity map of everything already illiquid on the balance sheet and what the next ten years must fund
- A sizing recommendation and, for funds that call capital, a reserve plan for uncalled commitments
- A review of alternatives you already hold or were offered elsewhere, on the same framework
- Coordination with your CPA on K-1 timing, state filings, and the account each position belongs in
- Ongoing monitoring with a running ledger of calls, distributions, and marks, reviewed in our Quarterly Rounds
Alternative investment work at the firm is led by Theo Halbardier, CFP®, CIMA®, CAIA®, the firm’s founder. The CAIA® designation is the diligence curriculum for private equity, private credit, hedge funds, and real assets, so the five reviews on this page are run by someone trained to run them, for you rather than for a sponsor. We are fee-only: no commissions, no product sales, and no compensation from any sponsor or issuer. About Theo
Questions
Common questions about alternatives
What does an alternative investments advisor do?
Decides whether a private investment belongs in a client’s plan, and on what terms. At our firm that means confirming eligibility, running five reviews on each offering (screening, structure, documents, suitability, and monitoring), sizing the position against the whole balance sheet, coordinating the tax reporting with your CPA, and watching the investment for as long as you hold it. We do not sell products, sponsor funds, or accept compensation from any issuer.
How do you evaluate a private investment?
In five steps written into our Form ADV. Initial screening checks the sponsor’s registration, regulatory history, people, audited financials, and references. Strategy and structure review covers terms, fees, liquidity provisions, borrowing, valuation, and conflicts. Document review reads the offering memorandum, subscription and partnership agreements, and audited statements. Suitability review tests the fit with your objectives, liquidity needs, horizon, eligibility, and concentration. Ongoing monitoring continues for as long as the investment is held.
Who is eligible to invest in alternatives?
It depends on the offering. Private placements under Regulation D require accredited-investor status: net worth above $1 million excluding the primary residence, or income above $200,000 ($300,000 joint) in each of the last two years (SEC Rule 501(a)). Funds relying on Section 3(c)(7) require qualified-purchaser status, $5 million in investments. A qualified client, with at least $1.4 million managed by the adviser or a net worth above $2.7 million for contracts on or after June 29, 2026, may be charged a performance fee. Registered interval and tender-offer funds are open more broadly.
Do you receive compensation from the funds or sponsors you recommend?
No. We have no relationship or affiliation with any issuer or sponsor of an alternative investment and receive nothing for recommending one. We are a fee-only firm: our only compensation is a simple advisory fee based on the assets we manage for you. No commissions, no product sales, no hidden or layered fees. This structure keeps our interests aligned with yours. In other words, we do better when you do better.
Can you review an alternative investment I already own or was offered somewhere else?
Yes, on the same five-step framework. An existing position gets a structure and liquidity review, a fee and distribution audit, and a place in your plan with a rule for when to hold, repurchase, or exit. A new offering from a custodian platform, a private bank, or a friend gets the full process before any commitment. For households that are not management clients, a scoped consulting engagement can cover a single offering.
Do you have access to private deals that individuals cannot reach on their own?
We do not claim proprietary access, and we treat that claim as a warning sign wherever it appears. What we bring is the evaluation. Where you authorize it in writing, we may research and retain unaffiliated third-party managers, including private fund general partners, on your behalf, and each one passes the same five reviews. The value is in what gets declined as much as in what gets approved.
What happens after we invest?
Monitoring becomes part of the relationship. We track capital calls, distributions, and reported values in a running ledger, read each audited statement and sponsor report, watch for changes in strategy, key people, or the offering documents, and coordinate the Schedule K-1 and any state filings with your CPA. The position is reviewed with the rest of your balance sheet in our Quarterly Rounds, and a material change is raised with you when it could affect fit, liquidity, fees, or our recommendation.
Reviewed by Theo Halbardier, CFP® · Updated September 2026 · Figures current for 2026
Bring the offering, or bring the question.
The first conversation is 30 minutes. If a deck is already in your inbox, send it ahead and we will have read it before we meet; if not, we start with what the plan needs.
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