Forests Are a Treasure. But Are They Good Investments? January 13, 2017 | By TIM GRAY | The New York Times Trees don’t watch the stock market. Forests keep growing — and potentially increasing their value — even when inflation surges or the market swoons. Big investors, like university endowments and insurance companies, have long allocated…

REITs Stumble After S&P Debut January 13, 2017 | By Beth Mattson-Teig | National Real Estate Investor REITs landed in a spotlight of their own last fall when they officially stepped out of the shadow of financials to headline their own real estate sector on the S&P 500. It was—and is—a big, long-awaited move. Industry observers anticipate…

SmartStop Asset Management Touts 2016 Successes January 16, 2017 | By James Sprow | Blue Vault  In a January 13, 2017 press release, SmartStop Asset Management, LLC (SmartStop), a diversified real estate company, said it is celebrating an unprecedented year of success. According to its press release, in 2016 SmartStop expanded its owned/managed portfolio to…

December 2016 Alternative Investment Sales January 13, 2017 | Blue Vault   Blue Vault has compiled sales data on nontraded alternative investments for the month of December, 2016. Sales for all categories of alternative investments came in at $684.8 million compared to $621.8 million in November, and combined fundraising for 2016 totaled $6.83 billion*. In…

Strategic Storage Trust II, Inc. Purchases 400-Unit Self Storage Facility in Colorado January 12, 2017 | by James Sprow | Blue Vault Strategic Storage Trust II, Inc. (SST II)—which is sponsored by SmartStop Asset Management, LLC—recently purchased a self storage facility located in Aurora, Colorado totaling approximately 400 units and approximately 53,360 rentable square feet.…

InvenTrust Snaps Up $73M Retail Asset in San Diego Metro January 11, 2017 | Evelina Croitoru | Commercial Property Executive  The company purchased a 144,000-square-foot shopping center that is home to highly ranked tenants like CVS, Bank of America and Starbucks, among others. San Marcos, Calif.—InvenTrust Properties Corp. has announced the purchase of Campus Marketplace…

Foundation for Financial Planning Names New Chair, Appoints Three New Trustees (Trisha Miller) Kenneth (Kacy) Gott, CFP®, Assumes Chair; Lazetta Rainey Braxton, MBA, CFP®, Ben Harrison, and Trisha Miller Join Its Board January 5, 2017, 10:11 ET | Foundation for Financial Planning WASHINGTON, Jan. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Foundation for Financial Planning, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit…

Former ARCP accounting officer Lisa McAlister expected to testify at ex-CFO Brian Block's securities fraud trial Both resigned in the wake of the accounting scandal that rocked Nicholas Schorsch's real estate empire January 11, 2017 @ 11:29 am | Bruce Kelly | InvestmentNews.com Lisa McAlister, the former chief accounting officer of a giant real estate investment trust once…

Chamber of Commerce calls on Trump to delay DOL fiduciary rule The business interest group would like the new administration to halt and then replace the regulation that requires advisers act in the best interests of clients in retirement accounts January 11, 2017 @ 1:39 pm | Mark Schoeff Jr. | InvestmentNews.com  One of the largest and most…