A MarketWatch columnist notes Rydex's new "National Survey of Registered Investment Advisers," has found that 43 percent of advisers have "moderately" boosted their use of alternatives the past five years, while another 25 percent have boosted use 100 percent. The survey also found that about 25 percent agree that such investments will be more important than stocks, bonds and money market-type products soon. What to make of this? It seems that John and Jane Q. Public may have been swayed by the institutional demand for alpha and the lust for gains that are uncorrelated with the stock market. Old-fashioned greed is at work. Market gains just may not be good enough. And of course, a huge point here is that advisors tend to make a lot more money when they stick people in nontraditional investments. Remember, the really high-net-worth among us aren't lusting for risk.

For more:
- here's the column from MarketWatch