A Beginning Guide to Alternative Assets - There's hills in them thar gold

People invest in traditional assets - stocks, bonds and cash. This is a textbook about other assets -"alternatives". Most (all?) alternative textbooks seem to only discuss funded alternatives. When discussing real estate, it is usually assumed one buys the building. Totally separate are textbooks in derivatives - buying with little money upfront (unfunded). We believe both funded and unfunded alternatives should be organized on what drives value, not whether you borrow to buy the asset. How to value both types of alternative assets are combined in this book.The authors believe in the spiral method of teaching. This book initially covers all alternative assets with minimal mathematics, suitable for undergraduates and inquisitive investors. A mathematics chapter follows and the material is presented again more rigorously. Appendices are presented illustrating the mathematical concepts. Exercises are also included to stimulate essay answers.