Masters in Business · Wednesday, August 5, 2026
Mike Kelly believes the next major frontier in asset management is bringing alternative strategies to individual investors, a segment largely left out compared to institutions and family offices. He noted that while Franklin Square initially focused on income strategies for independent broker-dealers during a search-for-yield environment, the adoption curve for these alternatives by the mass affluent has been longer than anticipated. Kelly asserts that despite recent industry growth, adoption is still in its early stages.
“The one constituency that was still left out were the individual investors below ultra high net worth and family offices. And so I had a view that at some point that would change, and I wanted to help effectuate that change.”
“So backing up to when Michael first started Franklin Square, this is now back in seven eight, launched the fund in January vote nine. So auspicious, great timing for a credit strategy and delivering income to individual investors through the independent broker dealer channel. And you know, if you remember that time, you had this declining yield environment and the FED cutting rates over that course of time, and so there was a search for income, particularly for retirement accounts.”
“So I do think there's been this arc of evolution and adoption, but I would tell you Barry, it's still very much in the early days, given the dynamics of private companies and their capital needs.”