For the better part of a generation, the default wealth-building strategy for successful British individuals has followed a familiar pattern. Maximise pension contributions. Hold a diversified portfolio of publicly listed shares. Buy property — ideally more than one. Perhaps add some gold or government bonds as a hedge.
It is a sensible strategy, and it has served many people well. But the landscape is shifting, and an increasing number of high net worth individuals are quietly diversifying beyond these traditional categories — not out of dissatisfaction with what they own, but because they are looking for something the public markets cannot easily provide.
At Oros Consultancy, we work with investors who have built real wealth and are now asking a more nuanced question: not simply "how do I grow this?" but "how do I grow this in a way that is not correlated with whatever the stock market decides to do tomorrow?"
The case for alternative assets
The 2008 financial crisis, the Covid-19 market crash of 2020, and the interest rate turbulence of 2022–23 all served as stark reminders that publicly listed assets — shares, bonds, and property funds — can fall sharply and simultaneously. When institutional sentiment turns, even high-quality companies see their share prices hammered regardless of their underlying performance.
Private market investments do not eliminate risk — nothing does — but they are not subject to the same daily repricing by millions of market participants reacting to headlines. A privately held business does not lose 20% of its value because of a poor inflation reading or a geopolitical shock. It is valued on its own fundamentals, on its own timetable.
This is one reason why pension funds, endowments, and family offices — the custodians of the most sophisticated pools of capital in the world — have consistently increased their allocations to private markets over the past two decades.
Source: Aviva Investors, Private Markets Study 2026
What kinds of alternative assets are attracting attention?
The universe of alternative investments available to qualifying high net worth investors has broadened considerably. Some of the categories attracting the most serious attention include:
Private equity and buy-and-build strategies, where capital is deployed to acquire and consolidate fragmented industries, generating returns through operational improvement and the premium applied to professionally managed groups at exit.
Infrastructure and essential services, where the underlying business provides something that society will always need — utilities, healthcare-adjacent services, and essential community infrastructure — creating predictable, recurring revenue streams largely insulated from economic cycles.
Private credit and loan notes, where investors effectively lend money to private businesses at agreed interest rates, receiving regular income and sitting ahead of shareholders in the repayment hierarchy if things go wrong.
“This year’s Private Markets 700 study reveals an increasingly sophisticated approach to investing in private equity, private debt, infrastructure equity and real estate.”
IFM Investors, Private Markets 700 Report 2025
Source: IFM Investors, Private Markets 700 Report 2025
Why essential services are particularly compelling right now
There is a category of business that combines almost all of the qualities sophisticated investors most prize: recession resistance, predictable demand, fragmented ownership ripe for consolidation, and genuine barriers to new entrants.
The UK funeral services sector is one of the clearest examples.
Demand is structurally guaranteed — the UK records between 570,000 and 662,000 deaths annually, a figure that does not fluctuate meaningfully with economic conditions. The average cost of a funeral is approximately £4,700, meaning each business generates meaningful, immediate revenue at the point of service. Families almost universally choose a funeral director based on trust, local reputation, and proximity — they do not shop around in the way they might for a car or a holiday. This means established local operators enjoy remarkable pricing stability and customer loyalty.
Yet the sector remains deeply fragmented. Thousands of independent operators face rising costs, increasing regulatory requirements, and pressing succession challenges. Many owners are approaching retirement with no natural successor and no interest in selling to an impersonal corporate giant that would strip away the family name they have spent decades building.
One of the opportunities introduced by Oros Consultancy, is addressing precisely this market. It acquires established, profitable independent businesses across the UK, preserves their local brand and community identity, and integrates them into a growing national group — targeting an exit through either a trade sale or a public listing.
“In recent years, the market had become more concentrated through the acquisition of smaller funeral businesses and that this trend could continue, resulting in fewer independent businesses operating in the market.”
Competition and Markets Authority, Annual Review of the Funerals Sector 2025
Source: SunLife, Cost of Dying Report 2026
A note on suitability
Alternative investments are not suitable for everyone. They are typically illiquid — meaning you cannot sell your position at a moment's notice in the way you can with a listed share. They carry real risk, including the possibility of losing all capital invested. They are intended for investors with the financial resilience to absorb that risk without it affecting their broader standard of living.
But for the right investor — one who has built real wealth, has adequate liquidity elsewhere, and is seeking differentiated, private market exposure — they represent a genuinely interesting addition to an existing portfolio.
If you would like to understand whether an opportunity of this kind might be suitable for your circumstances, the Oros Consultancy team is available for a no-obligation, confidential conversation.
Your capital is at risk. This article does not constitute financial advice. These investments are intended for Certified High Net Worth Individuals and Self-Certified Sophisticated Investors only.