Advisers Can Attend Alts Virtual Summit Online

A free, online conference for financial professionals to promote alternative investing education is being hosted by RIA Database and ETF Trends on May 15.

Attendees can view speaker presentations, participate in live webinars and visit the exhibitor hall, networking lounge and “hot topic” forums. Each of the seven panel discussions has been approved for one certified investment management analyst (CIMA) and certified financial planner (CFP) continuing education credit.

Robert Kapito, president and director of BlackRock, will give a keynote session, “Innovative Alt Strategies for Today’s Financial Advisors: What You Need to Know.” Mark Kiesel, managing director and portfolio manager at PIMCO, will deliver a keynote session, “Fixed Income Allocation in an Alternative World.”

Panel discussions include:

Energy & MLPs: Mastering Options for Income and Growth: One of the most popular areas of the market in the past few years, energy and master limited partnerships (MLPs) have consistently attracted advisers’ attention. What is the Energy Renaissance, and who is winning? How are MLPs structured, taxed and accessed by advisers? The panel will discuss these questions and more as it educates advisers on the landscape and outlook for energy and MLPs in 2013 and beyond. The panel will be moderated by Matt Hougan, president of ETF Analytics. Panelists are Kenny Feng, president and chief executive of Alerian; Gregory Reid, managing director of Salient Partners; and Jerry Swank, managing partner of Swank Capital.

Liquid Fund Alternatives: Generating Alpha and Diversifying Risk: A growing group of fund products offers liquid options into the alternative investing world. Financial experts will cover inverse and leverage, commodity, currency, real estate and volatility strategies. The alts panelists highlight the various choices and focus on ways to navigate alternative investments to manage risk, improve diversification and even provide enhanced returns. Nadia Papagiannis, director of alternative fund research at Morningstar, is the moderator. Panel participants are Joanne Hill, head of investment strategy at ProShares Advisors; Evan Mizrachy, director and head of retail alternatives at BlackRock; and Steve Young, vice president and portfolio manager at Jackson National Asset Management.

Education is a top priority for advisers, and there is a need for tools, resources and strategies to help them incorporate alternatives into client portfolios, said Clifford Jack, executive vice president and head of retail for Jackson National Life Insurance Company. “The Alts Virtual Conference is a great example of how we can continue to engage advisers in new and unique ways.”

Marquee sponsors are Jackson National Life Insurance Company and PIMCO. The conference sponsors include BlackRock, Morningstar, ETF Securities, Envestnet and KKR. The conference takes place 9:30am to 5pm EDT, Wednesday, May 15.

More information on discussion topics and instructions for registration are here.

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