Interest in private market investments will soar this year, according to the results of a global survey of RIAs and other wealth management professionals that Hamilton Lane released Wednesday.
Eighty-six percent of the 390 advisors and others surveyed online Oct. 23 to Nov. 4 by Hamilton Lane, in partnership with Wakefield Research, intend to increase their private market allocations this year, the investment firm said in “Focus: 2026 Global Private Wealth Survey.”
Eighty-three percent of respondents said they saw private market risk versus reward as similar to, or reward as higher than, that of public markets.
Education remains crucial, with 81% of wealth professionals reporting that client education significantly increases interest in private markets, Hamilton Lane noted.
A whopping 97% of private wealth professionals surveyed allocated 1% to 20% of their books of business to private markets at the time of the survey and most of them said they expected those allocations to grow in 2026, according to Hamilton Lane. Those allocations were private equity at 19%, private real estate at 18%, private credit at 16%, venture capital and growth at 16% and private infrastructure at 15%.
Among those surveyed, 55% said interest among millennials grew the most last year, and 47% said they planned to increase allocations to venture capital and growth, which was the highest among the private markets strategies, according to Hamilton Lane.
“Seeing Venture Capital and Growth top the list is telling,” Beth Nardi, Head of U.S. Private Wealth at Hamilton Lane, told WSR by email.
“It suggests a quiet conviction that the U.S. economy is not only holding up, but being propelled by technological innovation — innovation most directly accessed through VC-backed companies,” she said.
“Seeing Venture Capital and Growth top the list … suggests a quiet conviction that the U.S. economy is not only holding up, but being propelled by technological innovation — innovation most directly accessed through VC-backed companies.” — Beth Nardi, Head of U.S. Private Wealth, Hamilton Lane
“This year highlighted a shift among private wealth investors and their advisors toward building more resilient portfolios, and the findings reflect what we’re hearing in the market today: private markets are viewed through a more nuanced risk‑reward lens than in the past,” Nardi said in a news release announcing the release of the survey findings.
She added, “As we look across strategies, Venture Capital & Growth stands out as investors seek access to innovative, high-growth private companies, many of which are not available in the public markets.”
”The survey results point to the increasingly important role private markets play within wealth management portfolios, due to the portfolio optimization and diversification benefits these investments can provide,” according to James Martin, Head of Global Client Solutions at Hamilton Lane.
“Across our own client base and in the survey results, we see investors and their wealth advisors becoming more sophisticated around assessing risk/reward tradeoffs and recognizing the strong link between education and interest in the asset class,” he said in the news release.
Those surveyed included private wealth firms, RIAs, family offices and other advisor professionals from the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), according to Hamilton Lane. Its affiliation with the survey was not disclosed to respondents by Wakefield Research, Hamilton Lane said.
The findings were largely in line with those released by AssetMark in November that found 91% of the 400 U.S. financial advisors surveyed in September for “AssetMark Advisor Insights: Private Markets 2025” responded that access to private market investments had become critical for differentiation.
Among advisors not currently offering private markets investments, 68% said they planned to add such investments within the next year, according to AssetMark.
Jeff Berman, Contributing Editor and Reporter at Wealth Solutions Report, can be reached at jeff.berman@wealthsolutionsreport.com.
