The public market has historically been the most common playing field for investors, largely because of its availability, liquidity, and the relentless emphasis it receives from financial media, brokers, and institutions. Private investing, by contrast, has long carried a reputation for being high-risk, inaccessible, and reserved for a select few.
That perception isn't entirely wrong. For most of modern financial history, private market opportunities were genuinely out of reach for the majority of high-net-worth individuals. If you weren't already in the room, connected to the right operators, the right family offices, the right networks, these deals simply weren't available to you.
In 2012, the SEC passed the JOBS Act, which allowed alternative investment opportunities to be marketed more broadly. It opened a door. But most investors still haven't walked through it, not because the opportunities aren't there, but because the advisor channel that most HNW individuals rely on has little structural incentive to show them. That's the problem Pillar 10 exists to solve.
Understanding Private Equity
Private equity sits within the broader alternatives category and distinguishes itself by allocating to private companies and real assets, primarily real estate and infrastructure. By definition, private equity is a form of alternative investment in which investors purchase shares of privately held businesses. Commercial real estate falls squarely under that umbrella.
Private investments are considered illiquid because converting an equity stake into cash takes time. These investments trade far less frequently than public securities and have minimal volume compared to stock exchanges that process thousands of transactions per day. Because of this illiquidity, investors who commit capital to private deals are compensated with what's known as an illiquidity premium, a return advantage over public markets that reflects the patience required.
Private equity is generally broken into two core strategies: leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and venture capital. LBOs back more mature companies that produce cash flow but may lack management depth, growth momentum, or operational efficiency. The "leveraged" component refers to using a combination of debt and equity to acquire the business, a structure banks support because the company has a balance sheet and can service debt.
Venture capital backs earlier-stage companies with significant growth potential but limited stability. Because these companies are often pre-revenue or pre-profit, VC carries more risk and typically involves smaller individual allocations spread across a portfolio of bets.
Understanding Commercial Real Estate Investments
Commercial real estate, sitting under the private equity umbrella, gives investors the ability to own private shares of real assets. While CRE comes in many forms, investments are typically categorized by their risk and return profile across four main types: Core, Core Plus, Value-add, and Opportunistic.
Core describes a Class A asset with minimal leverage and stabilized income. These investments carry very low risk. The property is in excellent condition, tenants are creditworthy, and cash flow is predictable. Think of a newer industrial building in a prime location leased to a national credit tenant.
Core Plus represents a blend of income and growth, with a low to moderate risk profile. The asset is still stable with quality tenants, but may have some deferred maintenance or near-term upside through modest improvements. Think of a well-located apartment building that could command higher rents with targeted renovations.
Value-add investments require more active management to reach their potential. These assets are typically underperforming through deferred maintenance, below-market leases, or operational inefficiency, and carry moderate to higher risk in exchange for meaningful upside. Think of a retail center with significant physical needs and a lease-up opportunity once improvements are complete.
Opportunistic investments sit at the highest end of the risk-return spectrum. These assets typically do not produce stabilized income and require key events such as entitlement, construction, lease-up, or repositioning before they can be financed or sold at full value. Think of raw land that needs to be entitled, built, and leased before it generates a dollar of income. The risk is highest, but so is the potential return.
The Bottom Line
Investors who have spent their careers in public markets are increasingly looking at private equity and commercial real estate, and for good reason. The benefits are real: cash flow, appreciation, tax advantages through depreciation and cost segregation, leverage, amortization, and the potential for significant upside that public markets rarely offer to individual investors.
But the more compelling argument isn't the return profile. It's the control.
In public markets, an investor in the S&P 500 is exposed to hundreds of companies, sectors, leadership teams, and business plans they have no say over. In private markets, investors can choose the operator they trust, the market they believe in, the business plan that makes sense, and the basis at which they're buying. That level of intentionality, investing alongside operators with aligned incentives and proven track records, is how durable wealth gets built.
That access used to be reserved for a select few. Pillar 10 exists to change that.
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