About this episode

The episode features Jeff Hooke discussing the challenges and realities of private equity and alternative investments.

In this episode, we are joined by Jeff Hooke, former investment banking, private equity, and private debt executive turned academic critic of alternative investments, for a rigorous and provocative examination of private equity, private credit, and institutional investing. Jeff draws on decades of experience in finance and years of academic research to challenge many of the assumptions driving institutional and retail allocations to private markets. We discuss why pension plans and endowments continue pouring capital into alternatives despite evidence of underperformance, how private market valuations can obscure true risk, and why the fee structures embedded in private funds create enormous hurdles for investors. Jeff explains the methodological challenges of benchmarking private investments, the role of investment consultants and industry incentives, and why illiquidity and opaque reporting make private assets especially difficult for retail investors to evaluate. Along the way, we explore survivorship bias, public market equivalents, unrealized valuations, and the growing push to bring private assets into retirement portfolios. This conversation is an in-depth look at the…

People in this episode

Hosts: Benjamin Felix, Cameron Passmore, Dan Bortolotti

Guest: Jeff Hooke

Topics covered

• private equity
• private credit
• alternative investments
• institutional investing
• investment performance
• risk assessment
• fee structures

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Rational Reminder Podcast, pension plans, endowments, private equity, private credit, private debt, investment consultants, retirement portfolios

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