Alternative investing is hot. But you already knew that. Assets under management in hedge funds, private equity, venture capital and other formerly obscure realms have been exploding for the better part of a decade now. Slightly less obvious in the financial universe is the trend’s influence on the conventional money management business. For several years now, more and more investment shops are offering something a bit different, which generally means indulging in portfolio engineering of one kind or another. One quick measure of the trend can be found in the growing list of mutual funds and ETFs for which the underlying strategy can’t be described in 10 seconds or less.