Accredited investor, often with $2M+ in investable assets beyond home equity
The Income-Focused Retiree.
A framework for advisors serving clients whose primary objective is durable, current income — without surrendering the inflation protection, tax efficiency, and structural diversification that public-market income strategies have struggled to deliver this cycle.
Primary Objective
Current income
Risk Posture
Capital preservation
Time Horizon
5–15+ years
Tax Sensitivity
Moderate to high
Clients who need their portfolio to pay them, reliably, for the rest of their lives.
The Income-Focused Retiree has moved beyond accumulation. Their portfolio now has a different job: producing income they can plan around.
They are not simply seeking yield. They are looking for durable cash flow, grounded in real assets, diversified across sources, and structured to withstand changing market conditions.
Typical client profile
Why this allocation looks the way it does.
Aspen builds allocations around the structural forces shaping today’s markets — not last cycle’s winners. For the Income-Focused Retiree, four forces drive the opportunity.
Force 01
Commercial real estate credit dislocation
Traditional lenders have pulled back, creating a gap for private credit to finance sound assets at yields shaped by capital scarcity.
Read the full thesisForce 02
Discounted residential mortgage notes
Rate cycles create dislocations in mortgage markets, allowing performing notes to be acquired below par and generate built-in yield.
Read the full thesisForce 03
Housing supply imbalance
Underbuilding, migration, and shifting work patterns continue to support demand for stabilized multifamily housing in select metros.
Read the full thesisForce 04
Energy infrastructure underinvestment
A long-running supply-demand gap creates opportunities in producing assets with current cash flow and favorable tax characteristics.
Read the full thesisThe framework, by role in portfolio.
This framework applies only to the private-alternatives sleeve. Total portfolio sizing remains advisor-led and depends on the client’s broader balance sheet and liquidity needs.
35%
Core private credit (CRE) — current income, monthly distributions
15%
Short-duration private yield — residential mortgage notes and promissory notes
25%
Core stabilized multifamily — income plus inflation-linked rent growth
10%
Tax-advantaged energy income — producing assets, depletion & IDC benefits
8%
Opportunistic real assets — strategic, when an active vehicle is open
7%
Reserve / dry powder — held for redeployment or liquidity
Allocations are framework targets for the private-alternatives sleeve of an Income-Focused Retiree's portfolio, not investment recommendations. Specific suitability, sizing, and timing decisions remain with the advisor.
Allocation by role
Private-alternatives sleeve, 100%
Why these weights?
A note on funding source
For many Income-Focused Retirees, the private credit sleeve may partially replace traditional fixed income rather than sit entirely on top of the existing portfolio.
Roughly half the sleeve sits in credit roles
Roughly half the sleeve is allocated to credit roles because they provide contractual current income, defined seniority, and shorter duration than equity.
Energy improves after-tax yield
A modest allocation can add current cash flow with tax characteristics that materially improve the client’s distribution profile.
Multifamily adds inflation linkage
Stabilized multifamily can preserve income while allowing rents to adjust over a 10–15 year retirement horizon.
Opportunistic stays disciplined
This sleeve remains small and is only funded when a suitable active vehicle is available. Otherwise, capital stays in reserve.
Core allocations always have a current vehicle. Opportunistic allocations may have a current vehicle, or they may sit on standby. That is how thoughtful allocation works.
Current Aspen vehicles for this archetype.
The vehicles below are the funds Aspen has open today to express each role in this archetype's allocation. The roles above are stable; the specific vehicles rotate as funds close, new vehicles launch, and the macro environment shifts.
Aspen Credit
Open
Aspen Income Fund
An open-ended residential mortgage fund acquiring discounted, real estate-secured loans across the U.S. Designed to deliver investors reliable current income at above-market returns.
Open
Aspen Private Credit Fund
An open-ended fund focused on providing credit and preferred equity to commercial real estate properties.
Aspen Multifamily
Open
Aspen Legacy Fund
An evergreen multifamily fund focused on long-term, tax-efficient compounding growth.
Aspen Energy
Closed
Upstream Energy Fund VII
This Fund will be focusing on investing in a combination of existing producing assets for current cash flow (PDP) along with acreage for new drilling for upside value (PUD). We’ll be targeting multiple basins.
Closed
Industrial Growth Fund
A closed-end fund designed to take advantage of a unique industrial opportunity in the Southwest market of Kansas City.
How to read this section:
The Current Vehicles list is the only part of this page that updates on a quarterly cadence. When a closed-end fund completes its raise, the corresponding role enters a standby state and the framework allocation remains unchanged. When Aspen launches a successor vehicle, it appears here. Roles, weights, and the underlying macro logic are stable; vehicles rotate.
How advisors use this framework.
Confirm the archetype fits
Match the client to the closest archetype based on objective, horizon, and risk posture. Not every client is a clean fit; many sit between two archetypes and warrant a blended allocation.
Size the private-alternatives sleeve
The framework allocates within the alternatives sleeve, not across the total portfolio. Sleeve sizing remains an advisor decision based on liquidity, suitability, and the rest of the client's balance sheet.
Map roles to current vehicles
Use the Current Vehicles section above to identify the specific Aspen funds expressing each role today. Where an opportunistic role has no active vehicle, hold that capital in reserve until one opens.
For RIAs, family offices, and accredited advisors evaluating Aspen for client portfolios.
Phone
(800) 940-1510Speak with our team
For current capacity, vehicle availability, and upcoming launch visibility, the most direct path is a conversation with Aspen’s IR team.
We’ll help you evaluate fit, answer archetype-specific questions, and identify the materials needed for client conversations.
We’ll help you evaluate fit, answer archetype-specific questions, and identify the materials needed for client conversations.
Q2 2026 Edition · 42 pages · PDF
The full framework, in one document.
Download the complete Aspen Allocation Framework — every archetype, every role, every current vehicle — designed for advisor reference and client-facing conversations.
Refreshed quarterly. No gating, no form.
Download PDFRefreshed quarterly. No gating, no form.
Different client, different allocation.
Each archetype reflects a distinct primary objective. The role-based structure is consistent; the weights and emphases change.
Growth-Oriented Accumulator
Clients in the accumulation phase prioritizing long-term capital appreciation, with appetite for opportunistic and development-stage allocations.
View AllocationTax-Sensitive High Earner
High-income professionals using private alternatives for after-tax yield, depreciation pass-through, and qualified-investor tax efficiency.
View AllocationDiversifier / Endowment-Style
Investors building an institutionally-modeled allocation across uncorrelated private market exposures, focused on portfolio-level resilience.
View AllocationBuilding an alternatives sleeve for a client?
Building an alternatives sleeve for a client? Our advisor team can walk you through enhanced share classes, due diligence packages, and platform availability.
