How we research providers and asset classes
The controlling rule is that a claim about a provider comes from a document, and the article says which one.
For any US private offering, the first stop is the SEC’s EDGAR system. Most alternative investment sponsors selling to accredited investors file a Form D for each offering, which shows the issuer, the exemption claimed, the amount sold and the people behind it. Where a sponsor has a broker-dealer or investment adviser affiliate, FINRA BrokerCheck and the SEC’s Investment Adviser Public Disclosure database show registrations and any disciplinary history. Where a UK firm is involved, the FCA register is checked for permissions and warnings.
Sponsor claims about track record, transaction volume, assets under management and past returns are quoted only where the sponsor has published them in a dated document, and the article links to that document. “Past performance” figures from a marketing deck are treated as marketing, not as data, and are labelled as such.
Fees, minimum investments, hold periods and accreditation requirements are taken from the offering documents or the sponsor’s published terms, with the date. Where those documents are not public and the sponsor has not supplied them, the article says the figure could not be verified.
Litigation and regulatory history is checked through public court records and regulator databases. [CONFIRM which: PACER, state court searches, FINRA arbitration awards, SEC litigation releases. Name only what you actually search.]
Asset-class articles cite primary data where it exists, for example IRS guidance for 1031 exchanges, EIA data for oil and gas, auction house results for collectibles, and named academic or industry studies for return and correlation figures. Trade press and news reports are used for context and are not treated as data.
Where Nathan has direct experience of a provider, either as a former client of his agency or as a former officer of the company, the article says so at the top. Alphascend Capital, Capital Square and Clark Energy Fund Management fall into this category.
Where the site has a commercial relationship with a provider, that is stated at the top of the article as well as on the disclosure page.
Nothing on this page is a promise that an article is complete. It is a description of what was checked and how, so that you can check it yourself.
Nathan Tarrant has worked in and around financial services since 1997, first as founder and COO of an FSA-regulated finanival services business, then as a wealth consultant in Geneva, and since 2009 in digital marketing and search strategist for financial services firms, including Capital Square and Clark Energy Fund Management.
He was co-founder and COO of Alphascend Capital, an oil and gas fund sponsor, from 2022 to 2024.
He is the founder of Bright Ground AI Ltd, a search and AI-visibility agency for financial services, and owner and author of altinvestor.net.
You can read his full bio on our about us page
