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This year, investors are facing rapid innovation, market fluctuations and increasingly democratic wealth management platforms and solutions. With these factors increasingly at play, high-net-worth families are continuing to explore ways to better manage their finances and plan for their estates in today’s economic environment.

Gal Ben-Naim, IDB Bank’s California Private Banking Group Head, recently joined seasoned professionals across Southern California for the 2025 Wealth Management and Estate Planning Roundtable, where he shared important outlooks, key takeaways and best practices for investors navigating opportunities and challenges in both a fast-changing wealth management industry and uncertain macroeconomy.

Investors – even the most seasoned ones- have been shaken by the high-uncertainty, high-volatility economic landscape. While market players will point to the recent and inconsistent tariff policies, compounding factors have laid the groundwork for tenuous outlooks. In navigating this reality, Gal says diversification is critical.

“While tariffs are front and center, our broader economy is really a reflection of compounding factors – geopolitical uncertainty and conflict, inconsistent messaging on inflationary trends and a softening labor market. Our team at IDB believes in healthy portfolio diversification with a focus on alternative assets that don’t solely rely on market activity. While this has been an unusually complicated environment, it’s given us a chance to really understand the value of our approach in minimizing downside to our clients and continue to support mid- and long-term planning.”

The current economic cycle has highlighted the importance of a well-diversified portfolio built with alternative assets and hedging strategies in mind. Now is the time for investors to work closely with their advisors to identify safeguards on the equity market as well as private market entry points that will create protections on the downside, while maintaining participation on the upside.

“It’s not as simple as building your wealth across stocks, bonds and cash anymore,” said Ben-Naim. “In the past seven to 10 years, we’ve helped many of our clients increase their alternative asset exposure – ranging from equity and debt investment in commercial real estate, direct lending and hedge funds – from 5% to about 20%, with very positive results due to the less volatile and emotions-driven public market.

“We’ve seen very positive outcomes as a result of these strategies. Many of our clients who have been allocating funds to private markets have been largely shielded from the recent volatility. Now, they are even taking steps to allocate more funds into these verticals.”

Policy uncertainty and geopolitical conflict have highlighted the importance of diversified global market participation, especially within the emerging market space, where investors, guided by expert consultancy, can take advantage of strong valuations.

“Now is an opportunity to really consider your geographic exposures and to look to consistently performing and emerging markets outside of the U.S. to realize opportunities,” said Ben-Naim. “Of course, not all markets are winners and investing in a new region requires vetting, oftentimes with boots on the ground. But with careful research, you can make intelligent entry points. For example, despite the war, Israel proved to have a very strong public market in the past 18 months. Other markets, including India and Vietnam, are expected to perform with higher GDP growth compared to the U.S. and present an exciting outlook.”

Now more than ever, high-net-worth investors have access to more asset classes, opportunities and strategies. While exciting, investors should proceed with caution and the guidance of their advisor to fully understand the nuanced implications of their holdings and to create a smartly allocated portfolio that can withstand external fluctuations.

“It can be nearly impossible to understand the implications of your full portfolio holdings and how they may fluctuate throughout a market cycle or in response to a macroeconomic, geopolitical or industry event,” said Ben-Naim. “I strongly recommend working with an advisor with a fiduciary responsibility to you and your best interests, as well as intimate working knowledge of your profile, family, businesses and interests in order to create the right plan. The right financial advisor will not only know and understand you and your allocations but will also prioritize consultancy and communication to ensure holistic success.”

These insights initially appeared in the LA Times B2B Publishing 2025 Wealth Management and Estate Planning Roundtable. Read the full discussion here.