4 takeaways from Milind’s speech at the 2022 Greenwich Economic Forum
Yieldstreet’s CEO and founder, Millind Mehere, was a panelist at the annual Greenwich Economic Forum (GEF) this year, alongside other alternative investment industry leaders who attended the conference last Tuesday, October 11th.
Founded in 2017 in Greenwich, CT, GEF is known as the world’s premier conference for leaders of the global alternative investment industry, attended by 400 executives and a handpicked selection of A-list speakers. Subject to tradition, the conference took place in an intimate peer-to-peer environment in a waterfront setting, distinguishing itself from the bigger-venue “cast of thousands” type events more common in the industry.
Alternative assets like private credit, private equity, and real estate —which have seen an uptick in demand among retail investors seeking returns outside of the stock and bond markets this year — dominated discussions at the conference.
Our founder and CEO, Milind Mehere spoke on the topic of investing in alternatives, touching on some key reasons for why the space is ripe for growth. Some takeaways from his speech were:
- The gap between retail and institutional investors in terms of access to alternatives is massive. The 60/40 portfolio is dead, while access to and distribution of alts is fundamentally broken. Yieldstreet is a direct to consumer product that looks to mend this relationship.
- Yieldstreet is first and foremost, a digitally native experience, and it functions with a consumers first mindset. We focus on educating our investors and aim to have a holistic 360 view of alternative investments – access to a wide range of asset classes and investment opportunities is the key to obtaining that goal.
- What we offer at Yieldstreet can be accessed by both top tier investors and the retail investor. Our diversified Prism fund comes with obtainable minimums, allowing investors to unlock alternatives in any portfolio.
- As we’ve seen in public markets (e.g., Robinhood) and even with traditional banking (e.g., SoFi, Acorns) the FinTech space continues to disrupt stagnant industries. That trend is going to continue.
One of the keynote speakers at the forum this year was Ray Dalio, the founder of the world’s largest hedge fund, Bridgewater Associates. A Greenwich resident himself, Dalio had led all four of the GEF’s previous annual conferences.
Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont was also among the attendees, acknowledging like many other speakers, that 2022 was a pivotal year for the economy. Other guests included Alan Greenspan, Former Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve, and Brad Jacobs, CEO of XPO Logistics, who tackled issues relating to the global pandemic, fierce inflation and a discordant political climate.
Throughout his speech, Dalio emphasized the potential value of emerging technologies and underscored the importance of having a diversified portfolio, a primary benefit to Yieldstreet’s offerings.
Building on this topic, Milind went on to describe Yieldstreet’s strategy in helping investors navigate the current market environment as driven by the “educational and the digital first experience.”
What's Yieldstreet?
Yieldstreet provides access to alternative investments previously reserved only for institutions and the ultra-wealthy. Our mission is to help millions of people generate $3 billion of income outside the traditional public markets by 2025. We are committed to making financial products more inclusive by creating a modern investment portfolio.
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