The stock market has proven to be an excellent way to accumulate wealth. However, it is not the only way to invest, and alternative investments may be a good addition to some investors’ portfolios.
Any investment that does not trade on the stock or bond markets is considered an alternative investment. Let’s take a closer look at the many types of alternative assets and the benefits and drawbacks of investing in each.
Alternative investments that are the best
The following are some of the most common forms of alternative investments to consider:
Commercial Real Estate
Crowdfunding
Peer-to-peer financing
Commodities
Investing in hedge funds
Cryptocurrency
Art
Let’s take a closer look at each.
1. Commercial real estate
When the property is not your primary residence but rather an income producer, real estate is an alternate investment. Although purchasing property is not inexpensive, investing in real estate can generate consistent cash flow.
Having a rental property
Purchasing residential or commercial property for rental purposes might be profitable. Reliable tenants provide a stable income, and your expenses are usually restricted to maintenance and repairs.
You can employ a property management business if you wish to own real estate but not manage it. You’d give up a big percentage of your rents and still have to pay for maintenance, but you wouldn’t have to oversee any day-to-day operations, collect rent, or otherwise manage your real estate holdings.
Development and selling of real estate
Buying and improving homes and then reselling them, often known as “flipping,” can be more profitable than merely collecting rent. Flipped real estate is frequently purchased at a great discount, mainly because it requires significant modifications or repairs.
Real estate flipping is also one of the riskier ways to invest in real estate because it requires specific skills and experience to create a profit. Real estate flippers can reliably evaluate a house, accurately estimate the expenditures to enhance it, and then implement those modifications swiftly to resell the home. Buying, upgrading, and reselling property, on the other hand, takes time and money and can be stressful.
2. Crowdfunding
Crowdfunding is a tactic used by certain organizations to obtain funding for a project or enterprise. It is the act of soliciting small amounts of money from a large number of people. The majority of crowdfunding is done online through digital channels.
Crowdfunding for equity
Equity crowdfunding is a method of funding new businesses. Crowdfunding sites like GoFundMe, Kickstarter, and Patreon make it simple to locate developing businesses in which to invest while also thoroughly vetting the firms to ensure their legality. While most companies seek stock on crowdfunding platforms, you can also contribute funds in the form of loans.
Participating in crowdfunding necessitates time and effort on your part because it is critical to thoroughly research and understand the companies in which you are investing. You should also be aware of the fees associated with the crowdfunding platform you’re using.
Property crowdfunding
You can also participate in real estate crowdfunding. Platforms like CrowdStreet and Fundrise offer a plethora of real estate investing opportunities to investors. You will need to put in the effort to properly understand the real estate assets before committing any funds, just as you would with equity crowdfunding.
3. Peer-to-peer financing
Peer-to-peer lenders pool their funds with those of other investors to make loans to individuals. LendingClub (LC -0.73%) and Prosper are peer-to-peer lending services that allow you to distribute your cash over several loans and risk profiles, diversifying your assets and lowering your overall risk. You can also tailor your peer-to-peer loan portfolio to your personal risk tolerance and investment time horizon.
Lending money always carries the danger of not receiving it back. Peer-to-peer loans are unsecured, which means they are not secured by a physical asset, such as a car or a home, that you may repossess if necessary. However, the flexibility to spread your money across numerous loans with varying risk profiles is often helpful in lowering the overall risk of this type of investing.
4. Commodities
Agricultural commodities such as wheat and corn, energy commodities such as oil and gas, industrial metals such as steel, and precious metals such as gold are examples of commodities. Because holding most commodities in their physical form is impractical for most investors, those with a desire for physical commodities tend to focus on gold and other precious metals.
Coins, jewelry, and bullion are all examples of physical gold. Owning any precious metal requires you to pay for storage in secure areas as well as insurance against theft. If you don’t want to store and handle a real product, you can acquire gold certificates that can be exchanged for physical gold from firms such as Perth Mint Certificates.
Possession of a physical commodity, even gold, does not ensure profit. Gold or other precious metals prices might fall, and buying and selling a physical commodity necessitates paying broker fees to facilitate purchase and sale operations.
Commodities are regarded as an alternative asset class even when they are simply traded in the form of futures contracts since their price changes are generally uncorrelated with stock market movements. Commodity futures trading is by far the most prevalent option for investors to obtain exposure to this asset class.
5. Investing in hedge funds
Hedge funds frequently make huge directional bets in the stock market, but they also invest in complex securities to limit or hedge against the danger of large losses. Investing in a hedge fund can provide you access to a potentially profitable investment technique, but you could also lose all of your money.
A hedge fund’s fee structure is often divided into two parts. The hedge fund manager receives 2% of the fund’s assets under management as a management fee each year, as well as 20% of the annual profits earned by the fund’s investments.
Hedge funds use a variety of investment strategies, so you can invest in hedge funds that match your risk tolerance. When researching hedge funds, look for managers with similar investment views.
6. Cryptocurrency
Cryptocurrency is a type of digital money made possible by blockchain technology. Using a cryptocurrency exchange such as Coinbase (COIN 0.81%), you may simply purchase cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC 0.02%).
While it is simple to obtain bitcoin, investing in this burgeoning alternative asset is dangerous. Cryptocurrency price volatility is quite high, and with so many developing digital currencies available, predicting which cryptocurrencies will be widely adopted is impossible. Because the market is still in its infancy, your cryptocurrency holdings face increased security risks because the digital wallet where you store your crypto assets may be subject to hacking. You may potentially lose access to your digital assets.
With new functional uses for cryptocurrency constantly emerging, the value of several cryptocurrencies is expected to skyrocket. Cryptocurrencies already serve as value repositories, although it remains to be seen whether cryptocurrency transactions will become frequent. Countries all around the world are wrestling with cryptocurrency’s emergence and actively crafting legislation that will greatly define the future crypto scene.
7. Art
You can invest in art while also enjoying the pleasure of having something visually pleasing. However, the value of a piece of artwork is not guaranteed to rise, and you are responsible for securely storing and maintaining the art.
Choosing art that will hold and develop in value is a specific skill set that few people have. Should you acquire works by famous and well-known artists or those by emerging artists? You can engage a competent and trustworthy art appraiser to assist you with this and other similar decisions.
The art market is illiquid, or difficult to transfer into cash, and it is impossible to forecast when a work of art will appreciate in value. Because degraded quality can swiftly damage its worth, you may need to retain the art for longer than you expected and keep it in an atmosphere with the proper temperature, humidity, and light exposure.
You can utilize an art-focused crowdfunding platform like Masterworks to combine art ownership and crowdfunding while avoiding actual ownership of any art. Masterworks investors pool their cash to purchase art and pay a fee to hold and maintain the artwork until it can be sold for a profit.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
What is today’s alternative to the stock market?
Investing in assets such as real estate, cryptocurrencies, bonds, commodities, or peer-to-peer lending platforms could be an alternative to the stock market today. These alternatives to standard stock investments provide additional diversification.
Aside from stock market, what is the finest investment?
Aside from equities, the optimal investment depends on your financial goals, risk tolerance, and market conditions. Real estate, precious metals, index funds, mutual funds, and starting a small business are among the choices.
Can you give me two examples of alternative markets?
The real estate market and the cryptocurrency market are two instances of alternative markets. Real estate investing entails purchasing properties for rental income or capital appreciation, whereas cryptocurrency trading entails trading digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.
What exactly is an alternate market strategy?
An alternative market approach involves investing in assets other than the standard stock market in order to diversify a portfolio and potentially obtain higher risk-adjusted returns. This strategy seeks to diversify away from reliance on a single market and capitalize on opportunities in other asset types.
What are some instances of the four market types?
There are four sorts of markets: bull markets, bear markets, turbulent markets, and sideways markets. A bull market features rising prices, a bear market features falling prices, a volatile market features rapid price changes, and a sideways market features generally stable prices with no discernible pattern.
What kinds of economic alternatives are there?
Economic options are the different decisions that individuals and businesses make when allocating resources. They include aspects such as manufacturing practices, investment decisions, consumer preferences, and resource allocation tactics. Traditional farming and organic farming are two examples, as are investing in technology companies against real estate and deciding between saving and spending.
