This article lists some of the best alternative investment platforms you can utilise to give your portfolio variety.
The internet’s ability to bring the investment world closer together is nothing short of a miracle.
Before the advent of the Internet, anyone interested in making alternative investments in wine or art were required to have access to a wine cellar or warehouse.
After that, you’ll need to protect your money with both security measures and insurance. It would need your undivided attention 24/7.
With the advent of online investing platforms, however, you can pick and choose where your money goes while someone else performs the legwork.
Below are the best alternative investment platforms that you can choose from for your next investment venture.
If you are looking to invest as an expat or high-net-worth individual, which is what I specialize in, you can email me (advice@adamfayed.com) or WhatsApp (+44-7393-450-837).
9. Best Alternative Investment Platforms
1. FarmTogether
FarmTogether, one of the best alternative investment platforms, is a farmland investment manager that is committed to assisting qualified investors in gaining access to possibilities that are unmatched in the farming industry.
With the press of a mouse, investors have access to institutional-quality agricultural investments in the United States, including both permanent and row crops in key growing locations around the nation.
Since each transaction is organised as its own limited liability company (LLC), this is not an investment in a REIT. Investors are given ownership stakes in the limited liability company (LLC) that is linked with the acquisition of their property.
Farmland has a long track record of success as an investment, but until recently, it was difficult for ordinary investors to get their hands on it. This was the sole drawback to investing in farmland.
Through FarmTogether, investors have the opportunity to take part in an asset class that has consistently beaten the average annual returns of the S&P 500, in addition to having low levels of volatility.
The platform is only available to investors who have received appropriate accreditation and there is a required minimum commitment of $15,000.
The team focuses on opportunities that, after taking into account all applicable expenses, are expected to provide returns of between 6 and 13% and cash yields of 2 to 9%.
Farmland investments, much like the vast majority of other types of real estate investments, are intended to be an illiquid asset that is not actively traded.
Investors have to be prepared to devote themselves for the whole of the time the investment is held.
FarmTogether is a farmland investment management that is committed to assisting qualified investors in gaining access to possibilities that are unmatched in the farming industry.
With the press of a mouse, investors have access to institutional-quality agricultural investments in the United States, including both permanent and row crops in key growing locations around the nation.
Since each transaction is organised as its own limited liability company (LLC), this is not an investment in a REIT. Investors automatically become members of the limited liability company (LLC) linked with the acquisition of their property.
Farmland has a long track record of success as an investment, but until recently, it was difficult for ordinary investors to get their hands on it. This was the sole drawback to investing in farmland.
Investors now have the opportunity to take part in an asset class that has low volatility and has consistently beaten the average yearly returns from the S&P 500. This opportunity is made possible through FarmTogether.
The platform is only available to investors who have received appropriate accreditation and there is a required minimum commitment of $15,000.
The team focuses on opportunities that, on average, provide returns of between 6 and 13% and cash yields of between 2 and 9%, all of which are net of expenses.
Farmland investments, much like the majority of other types of real estate investments, are intended to be an illiquid asset that is not actively traded. Investors have to be prepared to devote themselves for the whole of the time the investment is held.
2. Fundrise
Fundrise, one of the best alternative investment platforms, is an online real estate firm that gives typical investors, often known as investors who do not have a lot of money, the opportunity to purchase into private commercial and residential buildings by pooling their assets together via an investing platform.
The majority of the products that Fundrise offers are real estate investment trusts, sometimes known as REITs.
These types of investments are typically made in income-generating real estate and may include purchasing and managing buildings as well as holding mortgages.
“eREITs” is the name that the business gives to its products. In addition, Fundrise makes available eFunds, which enable investors to combine their resources in order to purchase land, create houses, and then sell the completed projects.
Fundrise also provides what it refers to as a Flagship Fund, which is distinguished from the company’s other funds by providing more liquidity and diversity.
In addition, it has only just launched a new venture outside of the real estate industry called the “Innovation Fund,” which focuses on purchasing shares in privately owned technology firms.
Shares of Fundrise’s funds may be purchased by investors once they have first invested in one of the company’s four investment strategies: fixed income, core plus, value add, or opportunistic.
The proportions of eREITs and eFunds included in each plan, in addition to the underlying properties, are decided by Fundrise.
Fundrise provides investors with the opportunity to have access to a bigger number of real estate projects, in addition to other features and perks, by upgrading their account to the Advanced or Premium level.
3. Vaulted
With the Vaulted app, you may buy gold bullion that is kept in the vaults of the Royal Canadian Mint.
The website offers a safe and easy method to invest in gold from the convenience of your smartphone, and investors even have the option of having their gold delivered directly to their homes.
The International Collectors Association (ICA) and the McAlvany Financial Group founded the firm.
Since its founding in 1972, the ICA has grown to become one of the largest gold brokerage businesses in the USA.
According to Vaulted’s website, the company’s founders and employees have facilitated the acquisition of more than $2.5 billion in precious metals for investors.
The Royal Canadian Mint produces the 99.99% pure gold kilo bars that are offered via Vaulted.
Conflict-free gold has been officially verified. Gold is also stored at the Royal Canadian Mint’s safe and secure vaults, which are protected against theft, fire, and other hazards.
According to Regulations, the Royal Canadian Mint cannot lease or utilise your gold, and your gold is never combined with other people’s gold.
Everything is stored safely in the vault unless you specifically request FedEx delivery to your house or similar secure location.
4. Masterworks
The Masterworks is one of the best alternative investment platforms that allows users to purchase ownership stakes in individual works of art.
Investing in modern artwork by well-known artists such as Banksy and Jean-Michel Basquiat is made easier for potential buyers via the platform Masterworks.
The system provides helpful research and support tools, in addition to an intuitive user interface that was thoughtfully created.
Masterworks provides an enticing platform for investors who are interested in diversifying their portfolios by purchasing artwork but do not want to spend a lot doing so.
Those who wish to diversify their portfolio by adding alternative investments in great art but would rather avoid the expenses, risks, and hassles of purchasing full pieces of art on their own could find that masterworks are a viable choice for them.
Regular investors won’t need millions of dollars to acquire great modern art via Masterworks since there is a $10,000 minimum necessary investment.
Investing in art, on the other hand, exposes one to unexpected dangers. It may take Masterworks anywhere from three to 10 years to sell a piece of artwork from its portfolio, and even then, there is no assurance that the artwork will bring in a profit when it is finally put up for auction.
According to Masterworks, during the last 26 years, investors in modern art have seen an average yearly return of 14.1% on their investments.
Because of this, the ideal consumers for Masterworks are those who are prepared to accept a greater level of risk in exchange for the possibility of bigger returns.
In addition, prospective investors should preferably have a love for modern art as well as some fundamental understanding of the art world, since you will need to determine which individual pieces of art you would want to purchase as an investment.
It’s possible that Masterworks is not the best choice for investors who want to make a steady income or who are seeking for other investments that are easier and safer. It’s also not the best option for those that want liquidity in their investments.
It is conceivable, but not guaranteed, that you will be able to sell your shares on the secondary market for Masterworks at an early stage and get cash.
It is important to invest funds with Masterworks that you are able to afford to have locked up for a number of years, since the platform will ultimately sell the artwork in which you have invested. This will help keep your money secure.
5. Prosper.com
Lending money to people or companies is what is known as peer-to-peer lending, sometimes abbreviated as P2P lending.
Personal loans are available via the peer-to-peer lending network Prosper, which is accessible online and serves borrowers with credit scores ranging from fair to excellent.
Prosper is an investing platform that gives users the option to manually search for and invest in loans, or they can use the Auto Invest feature to automatically locate loans that suit their criteria and invest in those loans.
Prosper utilises a unique scoring method to evaluate applications. This algorithm takes into account a variety of data factors, including credit history and debt-to-income ratio.
The potential borrower is then given a score on the Prosper website, which is used by investors to determine whether or not they would finance the loan.
Your loan request will be considered unfunded if it has not received at least 70 percent of the funding within 14 days, but the firm reports that the majority of loans are funded within three days.
On the day when payments are due, the platform sends a request for payment to the borrowers.
After then, the proportional share of the investors’ revenue is deposited into their respective Prosper accounts within one to two business days.
Investors that hold several notes will obtain passive income via continual payments. This is owing to the fact that the due dates for the various payments on loans vary.
Throughout the course of its history, Prosper has offered average historical returns ranging from 3.5% to 8.9% across all loans made via its platform.
6. Wefunder
Wefunder, one of the best alternative investment platforms, makes it simple for non-accredited investors with minimal resources to participate in early-stage firms in which they have a personal interest and in which they feel strongly.
Nonetheless, there is a significant possibility of failure. Wefunder, which has been compared to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter for investments, makes private equity investment accessible to the general public.
Investors are able to look at businesses, investigate their performance, and browse through a news feed that is similar to that of Instagram to see updates from company founders, among other things.
Nevertheless, in contrast to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter, investors have the opportunity to get a return on their money.
This may take the form of returned debt, stock, dividends, or any number of alternative investment structures.
But, similar to conventional private equity, investors in this kind of private equity should have the intention of holding their investments for a considerable amount of time – at least five years, and maybe even ten or more.
The platform, in its current form, goes back to 2016, when the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its Regulation Crowdfunding regulation.
This rule makes it possible for some private and small businesses to raise capital via crowdfunding if they meet certain criteria.
At that time, the website has been instrumental in the raising of over 500 million dollars for new businesses via the practise of crowdsourcing.
According to Wefunder, it is the biggest financing platform for crowdsourced investing based on the number of investments, investment volume, and investor returns.
These three metrics were used to determine this. But, Wefunder wants to be about more than simply profits on investments.
In the words of the firm, it is encouraging potential investors to “join the campaign to cure capitalism” by making it possible for anybody to invest modest sums (more than $100) in early-stage businesses that may not obtain financing under any other circumstances.
7. Yieldstreet
Yieldstreet is one of the best alternative investment platforms that provides investors with access to alternative investments in a variety of industries, including commercial real estate, maritime projects, and even art.
Typically, the minimum amount required to make an investment is $10,000, however, in other cases, it may be as little as $2500.
Yieldstreet, in contrast to other websites that enable you to crowdfund the acquisition of a piece of commercial real estate holdings, crowdfunds the debt that is incurred in order to finance such investments as well as a variety of other businesses.
In 2015, Yieldstreet made its debut on the market with its initial product, which was in the area of litigation financing. This service connects investors with plaintiffs who are wanting to borrow money to pay expenditures until they get a settlement from a pending legal action.
At that time, it expanded into providing a wide range of services, such as financing commercial and residential real estate transactions, providing business loans such as merchant cash advances, and facilitating the acquisition of oil tankers and fine art.
Throughout the course of the loans’ repayment terms, investors will get interest payments and a return of their initial capital investment; but, there is always the possibility that the loans may go unpaid.
Despite the fact that most agreements are restricted to accredited investors only, Yieldstreet established the Prism Fund in August 2020. This fund allows non-accredited investors to participate with a minimum commitment of $2,500.
On the platform, investments of more than $3 billion have been made as of December 2022.
8. Vinovest
Investing in excellent wine doesn’t have to be difficult, thanks to Vinovest, one of the best alternative investment platforms.
Fine wine, like fine art, rare coins, and other expensive collectibles, is a “alternative asset,” meaning it has a limited connection with traditional financial instruments like equities and bonds.
Because of this, it may be a good option for those looking to diversify their portfolio. How does Vinovest operate, and is it ideal for you, if you’re interested in investing in rare wines for a yearly fee?
According to Vinovest, they are “investment sommeliers.” In this role, the corporation finds and purchases wine on behalf of its clients.
Significantly, it also provides its own safe facilities in which consumers may store genuine wine bottles. Unlike stocks, which are intangible assets, wine in a Vinovest account may be accessed at any moment.
Wines purchased via Vinovest are not merely virtual tokens; purchasers get actual bottles of wine.
The investing services provided by Vinovest are available at three different price points: Basic, Premium, and Grand Cru. The “Regular” category has a minimum balance of $1,000 and an annual charge of 2.8 percent.
There is a $2.5% yearly cost for the Premium tier with a $50,000 minimum deposit, and a 2.5% annual fee for the Grand Cru tier with a $250,000 minimum balance.
9. Collectable
With the Collectable app, you may speculate on the rising value of sports memorabilia.
Shares of these goods, some of which are valued more than $1,000,000, may be purchased on Collectable in the same way as stocks in a corporation can be.
Investing isn’t a game; it pays off when your assets appreciate in value.
Their experienced staff selects genuine, rare sports memorabilia that they believe will increase in value over time and then buys it at a discount.
These holdings are then documented with the SEC in the United States, insured, and secured in bank-grade vaults.
Shares are fractions of an asset’s total value (a $10,000 card, for instance, may be divided into 1,000 separate $10 shares). During weekly Initial Public Offerings, investors may buy these brand-new goods’ shares (IPOs).
Collectable is patiently waiting for the value of their holdings to rise so they may sell them for a profit. When that occurs, shareholders get a dividend payment equal to a percentage of the company’s net income based on the number of shares they own.
Shares in Collectable may be bought, sold, and traded at any moment on the secondary market.
Pained by financial indecision? Want to invest with Adam?
Adam is an internationally recognised author on financial matters, with over 760.2 million answer views on Quora.com, a widely sold book on Amazon, and a contributor on Forbes.
