Any good financial advisor constantly preaches about the importance of investing for the long run in a diversified portfolio tailored to individual goals, time horizon and comfort level with risk.
But some have clients that also want to have fun. That's why many advisors will sign off on a small bucket of more-speculative investments. For this week's Barron's Advisor Big Q, we asked four wealth management professionals what they recommend for investors who want to swing for the fences with $100,000.
Stephen Kolano, chief investment officer, Integrated Partners: Quantum computing is a big theme I'd have in that bucket. It's still in very early stages, but I feel the next stage of AI goes into quantum computing and the needs around that. You still haven't seen regulations and standards start to take shape. And there's lots of momentum around it. Related to quantum computing and AI together [which require water for cooling], another theme is water usage and water efficiency within data centers. That overlaps with a theme that I always monitor, which is water scarcity.
You're now seeing data-center usage of water starting to increase, and that relates to technologies around more-efficient water cooling, like microchannel heat sinks, hybrid immersion technology, things of that nature. That gets more into the realm of early stage venture, maybe even some late-stage venture.
Of stocks trading now, Pentair $(PNR)$ and Xylem $(XYL)$, are companies that play in that space. I also continue to love this whole grid upgrade cycle. GRID, the First Trust Nasdaq Clean Edge Smart Grid Infrastructure Index Fund, is one I would put in that portfolio.
Small modular nuclear reactors are really interesting. I think the best pure play on that right now is X-Energy (XE), which came public a little while ago at about $33. It's down to around 15 bucks, but I think that whole nuclear renaissance theme has legs.
Joel Freedman, managing director, Eclipse Private Wealth Management: My answer to your question is to invest in the more modern version of private equity. These are evergreen funds that are offered all the time, so that you have no capital calls, no surprises, and you don't have to worry about vintages because they're always investing money as money comes in. They have much lower minimums, more like $25,000 as opposed to $250,000-to-$1 million, and they are more diversified than the old-fashioned private-equity funds.
The other advantage of these newer versions of private equity is that there is some level of liquidity, within limits. Some of them have tickers, so they're very easy to purchase. Some of them are purchased with paperwork that's done through certain fintech providers that we use. But with the advent of Docusign, it's a pretty easy process for the client.
One specific area of these evergreen funds that seems to be very popular and exciting is sports and entertainment. There are a couple of different funds that are now allowed to invest in major-league sports teams, entertainment venues, and businesses that are adjacent to those venues. And if anyone's a sports fan, it's really cool to be able to say, I own a little piece of XYZ NFL team. The valuations are going through the roof, because there's a limited number of them.
Chris Maxey, chief market strategist, Wealthspire: We think there is an opportunity now to invest in a couple of different themes and ideas that would potentially give you some upside but not run the risk of going to zero. We've been talking with clients about the second- and third-order effects of AI, like the infrastructure and the power and the utility demand and the data-center beneficiaries.
We also think of companies outside of the S&P 500, meaning small-cap and mid-cap companies. Valuations are quite a bit lower there. Part of the reason small- and mid-caps have done better year to date is because economic growth is improving. Much of that has to do with the capex spend that we're all hearing about and that has now begun to make its way into lower-market-cap names.
I also don't think that people necessarily have to put all of that $100,000 to work today. You should hold some of it aside for what potentially comes later in the year. We still have a midterm election. We've got a lot of geopolitical volatility. You've got plenty of stuff happening behind the scenes that could bring lower prices between now and three months from today. We're also going into that seasonally weaker period as we look at the end of the summer months toward September. Start to build out that speculative bucket, and then hold some additional cash aside for opportunities that may begin to show up a little later in the year.
Chris Coolidge, chief investment officer, Brookwood Investment Group: If it's a smaller investor, you obviously want something that's going to be liquid. One fund I'd recommend is the VistaShares Artificial Intelligence Supercycle ETF (AIS).
The strategy looks at the next-gen AI space. It's got a global approach and is an all-cap strategy, so it can get into global small-caps, for example, which could have much higher volatility than most traditional retail investors are used to. But the fund takes advantage of the theme of who is building up to the next level of AI infrastructure after what we've gone through with the Mag Seven.
It's a young fund but it's performing really well. Year to date it's up 96% and over the past year 168%. But I think it can still grow. It is sensitive to the fact that AI can be hot and then it can be cold. But because managers seek to identify companies at a very early stage, there's potential for higher returns here.
Another fund is the Unlimited HFGM Global Macro ETF (HFGM). It is a hedge fund replication strategy and the fund is about a year and a half old and performing pretty well. Managers are kind of reverse-engineering the positioning that takes place within a hedge fund global macro index. So it's giving you exposure to a hedge fund-type diversified return stream that you normally wouldn't get through traditional investing in stocks and bonds. Last year it was up almost 50%.
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
July 15, 2026 16:11 ET (20:11 GMT)
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