The Blackstone Group L.P. (BX), Apollo Global Management LLC (APO)…Revealed: The Secret Wealth Investment That Yields Up To 17.3%

Given the returns they’ve generated, it should come as no surprise that private equity now ranks as Yale’s single largest holding. In fact, Yale invests twice as much money in private equity as it does in regular common stocks.

And Yale’s performance isn’t unique — as you’ll see in a moment.

The bottom line is that private equity firms have made countless fortunes over the years.

But until 2007, you couldn’t invest directly in private equity unless you were either an elite institution like Yale, or you ranked among the richest 6% of all Americans.

Fortunately for us, all of that changed in June 2007 when one of the largest players in this notoriously secretive industry made a surprising decision. It decided to list its shares on the New York Stock Exchange.

Thanks to these recent developments, you can now invest directly in a handful of the world’s biggest and most lucrative private-equity firms. And with each and every deal they make, you can reap the same rewards that the ultra-wealthy have already been enjoying for decades.

Not to mention, you could enjoy the sky-high dividend yields many of these firms pay out each year.

Just look at the returns and yields of these five private-equity firms available to buy on the public market:

Company	Total Return 2012-Today	Indicated Dividend Yield*
Fortress Investment Group LLC (NYSE:FIG)	92%	4%
The Blackstone Group L.P. (NYSE:BX)	55%	8.6%
Carlyle Group LP (NASDAQ:CG)	44%	11.3%
KKR & Co. L.P. (NYSE:KKR)	62%	14.6%
Apollo Global Management LLC (NYSE:APO)	134%	17.3%

*Yield calculation based on company’s last dividend payment

Compared with the S&P 500’s total return of just 25% over the same period, private equity certainly looks tempting.

Action to Take –> You won’t become a multimillionaire overnight by investing in private equity, but you’ll have a chance to bank a tidy profit from some of America’s fastest-growing private companies. And most importantly, you’ll tap directly into the private market — a market that’s cheaper and more lucrative than regular, ho-hum common stocks.

This article was originally written by Andy Obermueller, and posted on StreetAuthority.