The investment opportunities on offer to the average, moderately well-off person living in a developed country are limited by the regulatory structures of the country one lives in, by lack of knowledge on the part of financial intermediaries, and to some extent by fear of the unknown. Thus: stock exchange investment becomes more awkward the further afield one tries to invest; many types of offshore fund cannot be marketed at all in most high-tax countries; and private banking is felt as intimidating or elitist by many people, although this is less the case nowadays.

The investment options tend to narrow themselves to local stock-markets, funds which conform to tight investment guidelines, and the savings products of high street financial institutions.

Alternative investment can be defined as everything else.

Various processes have tended to broaden the range of accessible investment options over the last ten years:

• In most countries, domestic financial liberalisation has encouraged a more competitive atmosphere.
• In Europe in particular, the growth of the EU single market has forcibly demolished exchange and capital controls, and has again increased the level of competition in financial products.
• Increasing financial sophistication on the part of investors.
• Finally, and most importantly, the Internet has provided financial institutions with the ability to offer their products directly to retail customers, by-passing geographical restrictions for the most part.

Alongside this increase in accessibility, there has been a parallel increase in diversity, particularly in investment or mutual funds. Twenty or thirty years ago, funds were little more than staid ways of investing in local stock markets without the hassle of going through a grand (and expensive) stockbroker. While such funds still exist, they are outshone, particularly for 'alternative' investors, by a vast array of fund instruments based on property, emerging markets, derivatives, bonds, pop stars' earnings etc etc. It's almost: you name it, and there's a fund.

Ownership techniques have blossomed along with the instruments themselves. There is now a very wide choice of jurisdiction, of structures within jurisdictions, and of regulatory frameworks to suit all purposes.

All this diversity gives choice, but in itself it becomes a problem. How can an investor, or within limits even an advisor, know enough about the available choices to make the right decision in a particular case? All too often, a particular advisor, or a particular provider, will give advice which, while not necessarily bad, is self-serving and imperfect.

Information providers exist to fill that gap, but even they can often be partisan. In our Information Providers section, we list a number of information sites, with comments from users and from our own analysts; and in our DIY Guide to Investment, we try to correlate different types of investment with different types of investors and their differing residential situations.