As someone who has been a partner in a fund in the past, I've done a solid amount of research, and for someone who is risk averse, one of the best strategies of the last 50 years has been 33% of your investment in real estate, 33% in hedge funds, and 33% in a portfolio balanced between stocks and bonds. I don't have the study on hand, and I also don't have the time to search for it, but doing research into the hedge fund field will probably yield this study. good luck