The New Playground for the Ultra-Wealthy: Marinas, Whiskey, and Niche Investments

The ultra-wealthy are rewriting the playbook on investing, and it involves more marinas, whiskey barrels, and tax liens than one might expect. As private-equity funds balloon in size and lose their exclusivity, family offices are diving into offbeat, uncorrelated assets that zig when public markets zag​.

For investors like Matt Cornue, chief investment officer for the Horowitz Group—a wealthy California family office—traditional private markets have become overcrowded and commoditized. Instead, his team focuses on niche strategies, like buying tax liens on delinquent properties or collecting royalties from oil wells and pharmaceuticals. The result? Private-equity-level returns of 14% to 20% with far less risk​.

These investments—whiskey aging, boat marinas, even wireless spectrum licenses—offer something money can’t always buy: insulation from economic swings. For example, Cordillera Investment Partners, a San Francisco-based firm managing $1.7 billion, invests in assets like land for data centers and whiskey barrels. Its specialty-finance fund buys barrels of bourbon, holds them until they age, and sells them at a premium to craft distillers. The longer the barrels sit, the sweeter the returns​.

While this might sound quirky, it’s serious business. Wealthy families are looking for “inefficient, noncompetitive corners of the market” to achieve equity-level returns without venture-capital-style risk, says Cornue. Marinas, for instance, generate stable rental income regardless of economic cycles, because even repossessed boats need somewhere to dock​.

This strategy isn’t for the average investor, though. Minimum investments can range from $250,000 to several million dollars, and the deals require extensive expertise to find and manage. Family offices, however, thrive in this space, where big institutional players like pensions and endowments hesitate to tread.

For the super-rich, investing in these niche assets is about more than returns; it’s about engagement. They want to understand the businesses they invest in, moving beyond quarterly reports into hands-on expertise. As Deacon Turner from Bernstein Private Wealth puts it, there’s a “real thirst” for knowledge alongside profits​.

​In short, the super-rich are casting their nets wider than ever, seeking returns in places most investors wouldn’t think to look. It’s a reminder that when traditional markets feel crowded, fortunes are often found in the uncharted corners of the investment map.