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Alternative investments are, according to Investopedia, any investment that isn’t a stock or a bond.1 Likewise, a “non-accredited investor” is anyone worth less than a million bucks or who did not rake in $200,000 in income over the last 2 years…so, in a nutshell, most people.2 The problem with shopping for alternative investments, which are a great way to diversify your portfolio, is that most of these alternative investments are only for millionaires.
⚠️ Before we jump into the alternative investments I researched, a few risks to understand:
- alternative investments tend to be more complex and/or require more administrative legwork than stocks and bonds (this means you may pay higher fees than you would for a traditional investment).
- alternative investments are generally higher risk than stocks and bonds–pretty much all the websites listed below read, “These opportunities are only for investors who can handle losing some or all of their investment,” at some point in their FAQs.
- alternative investments can be harder to liquidate (i.e. to remove your dinero from the investment & put it back in your wallet).
- I’m a blogger–not any sort of trained financial advisor, ok. PLEASE verify this data on your own and consult some other sources before making any decisions. No one said that couldn’t be a deck of tarot cards, but please do your own due diligence.
💰 On the plus side, alternative investments help us diversify our money–you don’t want all your “nest eggs” in one basket. Because alternative investments are not connected to the stock market’s mood swings, you may be able to protect against, say, something like the 2008 Mortgage Crisis. Another benefit of alternative investments are that they generally have high dividends–yep, an even juicier pay-off. Finally, alternative investments generally fall under the “ethical investing” umbrella (not bad for the planet, no cigarettes or guns, etc).
I ranked these alternative investments with my primary consideration being the possibility of steady, high returns. Then I considered a low minimum investment and low fees. My final and least considered factor was how liquid the investment is (meaning how easy it is to get your money out in an emergency). When investments were pretty close on the above factors, I ranked companies that regularly paid dividends over companies where you have to wait years to see your return (i.e. waiting for a painting to sell or a fund to mature). Companies with no published history of returns (i.e. I could not locate these numbers anywhere on the internet), companies with any kind of legal problems/hacking problems were penalized pretty heavily. Preference was given to companies that had been reviewed by trustworthy sources like YieldStreet, Motley Fool, NerdWallet, etc.
I ranked these alternative investments with my primary consideration being the possibility of steady, high returns. Then I considered a low minimum investment and low fees. My final and least considered factor was how liquid the investment is (meaning how easy it is to get your money out in an emergency). When investments were pretty close on the above factors, I ranked companies that regularly paid dividends over companies where you have to wait years to see your return (i.e. waiting for a painting to sell or a fund to mature). Companies with no published history of returns (i.e. I could not locate these numbers anywhere on the internet), companies with any kind of legal problems/hacking problems were penalized pretty heavily. Preference was given to companies that had been reviewed by trustworthy sources like YieldStreet, Motley Fool, NerdWallet, etc.
#1 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: VINOVEST
“Diversification is key for any individual and any business.” -Paul Heyman
Cheers to Vinovest for being my top choice! It’s where I have my current alternative investment allotment chillin.’ It’s very simple–Vinovest buys rare wine for you and stores it in their high-tech warehouse. After 7 or 8 years (or the time they deem to be optimal), they sell your wine. Can you hear the cha-ching now? You can sell your wine anytime though (or even drink it).
One of the main reasons I chose Vinovest over the other options in this article to be top dog is because they scheduled a no-pressure, informal video chat with me when I filled out their website form. There was no sales pitch–it was just her answering my questions, clarifying things, and some small talk. I have to deal with enough mega-corporations in my life. Getting a helpful human being to give you some of their time is gold for me.
As for the numbers, you’re going to like those too. Vinovest reports, “Wine outperforms the S&P 500 by 1000% over the last 20 years.”3
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $1,000
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 13%
FEES: pay $28.50/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 2.85%)
SPECIAL OFFER: Using my referral link, we’ll both get 3 free months (no management or wine storage fees).
Did you know the historical average stock market return is 10%?4
#2 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: GROUNDFLOOR
“People first, then money, then things.” -Suze Orman
Groundfloor is like Fund That Flip for non-accredited investors–in other words, you’ll be crowdfunding loans to flip houses. Who doesn’t want to get a piece of that hot house flipping action (i.e. short term + high yield)? You can handpick the flips you’d like to be involved with (or set it up to be done automatically based on your pre-set criteria), which gives you the opportunity to diversify within the app. Their real estate selection isn’t terribly diverse, but there are a lot of different offerings to choose from. Groundfloor also offers a savings app called Stairs that is backed by house flipping loans–cha-ching. Like investing in crypto, house flipping is risky–houses get foreclosed on and loans go unpaid at times (about 2% historically speaking). Bonus: MillionAcres.com calls Groundfloor “very transparent,”5 and, unlike many of the crowdfunding new-comers, Groundfloor was established in 2013.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $10
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 10.5%
FEES: none
*No investors from Nebraska will be accepted.
#3 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: MAINVEST
“The secret to investing is to figure out the value of something–and then pay a lot less.” -Joel Greenblatt
Mainvest gives non-accredited investors the opportunity to infuse cash into brick-and-mortar small businesses (including cannabis). They’ve only been around since 2019 so their isn’t much “historical” in their “historical returns.” This crowdfunding platform has a very cool map feature allowing you to locate businesses near you that you can invest in. You’ll get quarterly revenue checks (vs. having to wait for a loan or investment to mature before earning anything).
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $100
“HISTORICAL” RETURNS: 10-25%, according to Mainvest (Yieldstreet reports 7-10%6)
FEES: free for investors (the small businesses pay)
#4 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: DIVERSYFUND
“85% of people living paycheck to paycheck are women.” -MetLife
You know when you get that Community Chest card in Monopoly that says to collect $100 because your loan has matured? Well, Diversyfund is kinda like that. It’s a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) that brings together a diverse pool of properties into a fund for non-accredited investors. They even have commercial real estate. Like the Monopoly card though, you’ll need to wait until the investment “matures” before you get your payday. Diversyfund recommends a minimum 3-5 year timeline. They don’t have options for accessing your money before it’s maturity date. If you’re like me, seeing that there are “no fees” raises a concern about how you’ll be robbed later. Diversyfund says, “Unlike others, we actually own all of the real estate assets that are being purchased as opposed to other platforms that simply raise funds for other 3rd party projects. Because of this, we are able to waive the fees on the platform and pass on those benefits to our investors.”7
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $500
HISTORICAL RETURNS:
- 7% according to BusinessInsider.com8
- 17-18% according to Diversyfund7
- 11-18% according to ThinkSaveRetire.com9
FEES: none
#5 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: FUNDRISE
“Alternative investments are an interesting and exciting way to add return to your portfolio. It can be tempting to over-invest in this asset class, especially when things are going well, so remember to make sure that you’re investing in line with your asset allocation and risk tolerance.” -Jane Walters
Fundrise is crowd-funded real estate. You don’t need to be able to afford a rental house now in order to enjoy the benefits of real estate investing! One of my favorite things about Fundrise, other than the $500 minimum investment, is that you can receive quarterly dividend pay-outs. This means instead of waiting until your art or wine sells, you can get cash flowing back to you 4x a year right off the bat! Fundrise recommends planning to leave your money invested for at least 5 years. Their FAQ section says, “Our investors may request to redeem shares (i.e. sell/get your money back) at any time, although such redemption cannot be guaranteed…there may be costs associated with premature redemption.”10
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $500
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 8-12%
FEES: pay $10/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 0.15% investment advisory fee + 0.85% asset management fee)
#6 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: MASTERWORKS
“Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.” -Warren Buffett
Invest in rare art! According to a blog post on Masterworks’ site called Art: The Alternative Real Asset, “Art is a physical, tangible asset that is globally transportable, marketable, and can be transacted in any currency; and there is no better market environment than today’s to illustrate art’s value as the alternative real asset in any investment portfolio. There is an estimated $1.7 trillion worth of art held in private hands globally, of which nearly $70 billion changes hands each year, and until recently, investor access was limited almost entirely to physical ownership. Art as an asset class is vast, global, and today through Masterworks, accessible to the investing public.” 11
Don’t be intimidated by their website’s “apply now” thing…it’s just so they can get your contact info & schedule a discovery call with you.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $1,000
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 9-20%
FEES: pay $15/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 1.5% annual fee) + 20% of your art sales profits, which is $200 per $1,000
#7 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: MYCONSTANT
“Don’t limit investing to the financial world. Invest something of yourself, and you will be richly rewarded.” -Charles Schwab
MyConstant offers non-accredited investors the opportunity to invest in peer-to-peer lending in US dollars or crypto. The collateral for MyConstant’s loans: crypto. It’s so easy to instantly withdraw your money that you can even do ACH (free bank transfer), although their fixed term loans offer the highest returns (meaning you don’t have access to get your money back until the loan matures–like a CD at a bank. MyConstant’s homepage says their average investors holds 13 different investments with them.[efn_note]https://www.myconstant.com/[/efn_note] Their testimonials are rock solid too, but I think my favorite selling point is the repayment rate of loans on their platform: 100%!
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $10
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 7.27%
FEES: none
#8 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: VAULTED
“How many millionaires do you know who have become wealthy by investing in savings accounts? I rest my case.” -Robert G. Allen
“Gold is the classic example of a real asset and often thought of as a ‘safe haven’ asset during market dislocation and recently referred to as ‘the currency of last resort’ by Goldman Sachs.”11 Vaulted is a super easy way for non-accredited investors to buy gold (like right from your phone on their app). Some analysts advocate replacing the bonds portion of your portfolio with gold (or related precious metal) because gold has historically outperformed bonds. Traditional thinking is to reserve at least 25% of your nest egg for low-income-producing bonds, the “savings account” of the stock market. In that regard, gold could be a stable (or, dare I say, even somewhat profitable) option. Finally, I had an issue signing up for Vaulted’s affiliate program–they responded quickly (afterhours!) and gave me a $15 gift card. Excellent customer service experience.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $10
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 5-10%
FEES: pay $4/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 0.4% annual fee) + 1.8% commission on each transaction, which is $18 for every $1,000
#9 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: NICO
“Investing is the intersection of economics and psychology.” -Seth Klarman
Impact investors, check out Nico–they’ve created a “neighborhood real estate investment trust (REIT)” to pump cash into the Echo Park area of L.A. Nico is a public benefit corporation (meaning a non-profit corporation that has shareholders, unlike a traditional non-profit that has no “owners”),12 which means they do cool things to improve Echo Park like boosting the economy and improving inclusion. You should expect to keep your money in your Nico investment for 5 years, but they do offer quarterly dividend pay-outs. You have an opportunity (not a guarantee) to sell your investment just 4x per year. Echo Park locals get extra benefits/priorities. Forbes called Nico “innovative.”13
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $100
HISTORICAL RETURNS: I couldn’t find any data on Nico‘s historical returns, but a review by MoneyMade.io states their “target” returns are 8-12%.14
FEES: pay $15/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 1.5% annual fee)
#10 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: YIELDSTREET’S PRISM FUND
“In investing, what is comfortable is rarely profitable.” -Robert Arnott
Nerdwallet says, “Yieldstreet offers ordinary investors a seat at the table previously reserved for the ultra-wealthy.”15 The majority of Yieldstreet’s offerings are for accredited investors though, but they do have their Prism Fund open to all. Yieldstreet’s Prism Fund includes a variety of alternative investments like art, real estate, and legal financing all bundled together. The fund makes quarterly distributions as well so you can rake in your profits every 3 months. The Prism Fund’s site says their “distribution” is 8%, but, according to a document on file with the Security & Exchange Commission, it’s 7%. The Yieldstreet Prism Fund ends in March of 2024, which means if you invest now, there won’t be many opportunities to get your money out (to sell the investment) before then.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $500
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 7-8%
FEES: pay $15/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 1.5% annual fee)
*No investors from Nebraska or North Dakota will be accepted.
Did you know Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) are legally required to distribute 90% of their income to their investors every year?16
#11 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: HAPPYNEST
“The difference between the price we pay for a stock and its liquidation value gives us a margin of safety. This kind of investing is one of the most effective ways of achieving good long term results.” -Peter Cundill
The HappyNest app gives non-accredited investors the opportunity to get in on some real estate action for a minimum 3-year term. You’ll get dividend pay-outs 4x a year. HappyNest was established in 2019, so there isn’t an established history of gains earned on investments.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $10
“HISTORICAL” RETURNS: Their expected returns are advertised at 6%, according to YieldTalk.com17
FEES: none
#12 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: HONEYCOMB CREDIT
“The trick is to take risks and be paid for taking those risks, but to take a diversified basket of risks in a portfolio.” -Jeffrey Gundlach
Hold on to your alternative investments, baby! Get paid 4x a year by backing small business loans with Honeycomb Credit.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $100
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 5-12%
FEES: pay $28.50 for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 2.85% transaction fee), not exceed $37.25
#13 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: REALTY MOGUL
“Successful investing is about managing risk, not avoiding it.” -Benjamin Graham
Realty Mogul brings crowdfunding to a diversified group of apartment buildings throughout the US. Non-accredited and accredited investors welcome. These Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) only accept 1% of the commercial real estate developers who apply for funding…highly vetted to say the least. Realty Mogul investments are difficult to sell if you need your money back in a pinch. And, finally, they offer an auto-invest option on certain funds.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $1,000
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 6-8%
FEES: pay $10-12/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 1.0-1.25% annual fee)
Did you know, according to Wikipedia, “An ‘angel investor’ is an individual who provides capital for a business or businesses start-up, usually in exchange for convertible debt or ownership equity. Angel investors usually give support to start-ups at the initial moments and when most investors are not prepared to back them”?18
#14 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: PROSPER
“How we behave toward our money, how we treat our money, speaks volumes about how we perceive and value ourselves. If we aren’t powerful with money, we aren’t powerful period.” -Suze Orman
Prosper is an alternative investment platform offering peer-to-peer loans with monthly payments going straight back to you. Their website states, “Each month, the first withdrawal from your general investment account can be any amount you’d like, but each additional withdrawal requires a minimum of $25. There are no fees to transfer funds in or out of your Prosper account.19
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $25
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 5.6%
FEES: pay $10 for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 1% annual “loan servicing fee”)20
#15 ALTERNATIVE INVESTMENT FOR NON-ACCREDITED INVESTORS: ARRIVED HOMES
“Beware of geeks bearing formulas.” -Warren Buffett
Arrived Homes, established in 2020, gives non-accredited investors a way to get in the rental house industry and receive quarterly pay-outs on earnings. On the day I accessed the Arrived Homes site (10/31/21), they had no available rentals to invest in (they were all fully funded). You should plan on investing here for a minimum of 5 years, not atypical for an alternative investment. To sell your shares, you have to call Arrived Homes and ask, but there are no guarantees.21
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $100
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 5.41%-7.02%22
FEES: pay $10/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 1.0% annual fee)23
#16 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: COINRULE
“Invest in the known versus the unknown.” -Suze Orman
According to Benziga, “The platform is one of the best for digital currency trading and learning how to be a consistently successful crypto trader.”24 Coinrule let’s non-accredited investors trade Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other types of cryptocurrency through a simple, jargon-free interface (they don’t have an app yet though). Coinrule has customizable trading rules you can set up to automate your account and gives you access to 150 trading “templates” to get help you get started. Newbies can test their crypto strategies in a platform similar to TD Ameritrade’s “paperMoney” (like a “fantasy trading team” you can try out with real market conditions before you invest actual money).
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: none
HISTORICAL RETURNS: Bitcoin’s returns were 302% in 2020, 87% in 2019, and -72% in 2018. Read more.25
FEES: Coinrule offers 3 plans. The Starter Plan is free & gives you: 2 live trading rules, 2 demo trading rules, access to 7 trading template, 1 connected exchange platform, and up to $3,000/month trading volume. Hobbyist is $29.99/month. Trader is $59.99/month. Pro is $449.99/month.
#17 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: CRYPTO.COM
“Your investor’s edge is not something you get from Wall Street experts. It’s something you already have. You can outperform the experts if you use your edge by investing in companies or industries you already understand.” -Peter Lynch
Crypto.com is Investopedia’s pick over CoinBase as a cryptocurrency trading platform/app.26 Investopedia rates Crypto.com as cheaper, more “generous rewards,” and offers 25 more types of currency than CoinBase. You can do 30 trades/month with Crypto.com. The coolest thing about Crypto.com is their debit card system. It’s complicated to understand all the intricacies, but if you invest a certain amount in Crypto.com‘s own currency CRO for a guaranteed period of time (i.e. “staking”), there are an insane list of benefits from Netflix to airline lounge access to 8% cashback. Check out this article on Medium to learn more.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: none
HISTORICAL RETURNS: Bitcoin’s returns were 302% in 2020, 87% in 2019, and -72% in 2018. Read more. 25
FEES:
- buying crypto with dollars: free (Exchange rate on 10/31/21 is $0.001 Bitcoin = $61.98 USD)
- buying stuff with your crypto using their debit/credit card: pay $29.90 for every $1,000 (i.e. 2.99% transaction fee)…but they give you 30 days free when you open your account
SPECIAL OFFER: Using my referral link, we’ll both get $25 (or use this referral code: dfg3h8rxg7)!
#18 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: BLOCKFI
“Only 29% of women are confident they’ll have enough resources to last 25 years into retirement.” -Morningstar
Blockfi is like a crypto bank. You can earn 7.5% by converting US dollars to “stablecoins.” SideHustleNation.com likens it to a high-yield savings account (without the FDIC-insured part).27 You can also borrow against your own crypto.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: none
HISTORICAL RETURNS: Bitcoin’s returns were 302% in 2020, 87% in 2019, and -72% in 2018. Read more. 25
FEES: No commission fees, no monthly fees. Full details here.
#19 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: BITCOINIRA
“At heart, ‘uncertainty’ and ‘investing’ are synonyms.” -Benjamin Graham
Tax-deferred crypto investing! BitcoinIRA is one of the most unique alternative investments on the page. They have created a platform where you can roll-over your traditional IRA, Roth IRA, or 401k to bitcoin (gold is also available). They also have an “earn program” which allows investors to make 6% APY on cash, 2% APY on Bitcoin, and 2.7% APY on Ethereum for accounts with over $10,000 in them, according to Motley Fool.28
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $3,000
HISTORICAL RETURNS: Bitcoin’s returns were 302% in 2020, 87% in 2019, and -72% in 2018. Read more. 25
FEES: pay $50 for every $1,000 of crypto purchased (i.e. 5% fee) & pay $10 for every $1,000 of crypto sold (i.e. 1% fee)
#20 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: KRAKEN
“Self-worth equals net worth.” -Suze Orman
Kraken is a platform to trade dozens of different types of cryptocurrency. They have an app and are geared towards a more experienced crypto investor. You can buy crypto with your Visa or Mastercard on Kraken! They claim “high liquidity,” meaning they’ve tried to make it as fast and easy as possible to take your money out of Kraken when you want.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $10
HISTORICAL RETURNS: Bitcoin’s returns were 302% in 2020, 87% in 2019, and -72% in 2018. Read more. 25
FEES: pay $0-$2.60/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 0-0.26% annual fee)
*No investors from Washington or New York states will be accepted.
#21 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: COINBASE
“Investing in stocks is an art, not a science, and people who’ve been trained to rigidly quantify everything have a big disadvantage.” -Peter Lynch
Investopedia says, “As the leading mainstream cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, Coinbase has become a standard on-ramp for new crypto investors.”30 Coinbase offers just 25 different currencies. Investopedia also reports, “Coinbase has high fees compared to some of its largest competitors.”30 For a full explanation of their fees, go here. There has also been some talk of Coinbase being hacked recently–some investors reported their crypto was missing from their accounts. On the plus, it’s easy to withdraw your money, and they offer a credit card.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $2
HISTORICAL RETURNS: Bitcoin’s returns were 302% in 2020, 87% in 2019, and -72% in 2018. Read more. 25
FEES: pay $0.50 for every $1,000 traded (i.e. 0.50% spread per trade), pay $39.90 for every $1,000 transacted on your credit card (i.e. 3.99%), and pay $14.90 for every $1,000 transacted via your Coinbase wallet (i.e. 1.49%)
#22 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: WEFUNDER
“Investing is important, but get debt-free first. That’s what frees up your income so you can win.” -Dave Ramsey
WeFunder allows non-accredited investors to get in on the start-up action. Their website claims, “WeFunder has higher returns than the top quarter of venture capital firms.” The page says that 100% of their start-ups are still active after joining WeFunder and that their expected returns (IRR) are 29% compared to 15% from competitors.31 IRR, internal rate of return, according to Investopedia is, “a metric used in financial analysis to estimate the profitability of potential investments…Generally speaking, the higher an internal rate of return, the more desirable an investment is to undertake.” 32 They refer to their start-up company investments as “not liquid,” meaning hard to sell after purchasing.33
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $100
HISTORICAL RETURNS: read how to make money investing in start-ups (different methods + risks & returns)
FEES: none
#23 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: REPUBLIC.CO
“We don’t have to be smarter than the rest. We have to be more disciplined than the rest.” -Warren Buffett
Republic.co offers a variety of alternative investments in one place–crypto currency, start-ups, real estate, and video games. YieldTalk.com says, “Investments on Republic are high-risk angel investments in startups. There are no interest or dividend payments…except under very limited circumstances. The investment must be held for at least 12 months…Most startup investments lose some or all of their value.”34 Check out their Ember Fund if you are looking to get some cryptocurrency in your portfolio.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $10
HISTORICAL RETURNS: read how to make money investing in start-ups (different methods + risks & returns)
FEES: free for investors
#24 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: STARTENGINE
“Anyone who is not investing now is missing a tremendous opportunity.” -Carlos Slim
Are you a fan of “Shark Tank”? You’ll love what StartEngine has done for equity crowdfunding. This is a fast-growing platform featuring some very cool start-ups…buuuuut the pay-offs are tricky. (I had to read this whole article to understand if you can sell your investments and what the average rate of return is…and I’m still confused). Their website says, “StartEngine assists companies in raising capital, and once the offering is closed, we are no longer involved with whether the company chooses to list shares on a secondary market, or what occurs thereafter. Therefore, StartEngine has no control or insight into your investment after the close of the live offering.”35 StartEngine now offers a way for current StartEngine investors to buy and sell start-up shares with other platform members via their “Secondary” feature.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $506.25
HISTORICAL RETURNS: read how to make money investing in start-ups (different methods + risks & returns)
STARTENGINE FEES: free for investors (the start-ups pay to be listed)
“SECONDARY” FEES: pay $50 for every $1,000 bought/sold (i.e. 5% transaction fee)
#25 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: SEEDINVEST
“The stock market is filled with individuals who know the price of everything, but the value of nothing.” -Phillip Fisher
“Sometimes revolutions have small beginnings. SeedInvest has positioned itself to be at the heart…of a fundamental change in America’s capital markets,” reports The Economist. 36 SeedInvest is crowd-funding for ecommerce start-ups. Your investment will help new digital companies start and grow their businesses. Their website says they only accept about 2% of the start-ups that apply for loans with them (“highly-vetted”). Too busy or nervous to diversify your portfolio of start-ups by yourself? SeedInvest offers an “auto invest” feature that looks amazing!!! They currently have over 250 start-ups across all industries in the platform. BusinessInsider.com gave SeedInvest 4 out of 5 stars.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $200/start-up (but $1,000 is required to open your account)
HISTORICAL RETURNS: read how to make money investing in start-ups (different methods + risks & returns)
FEES: pay $20/transaction for every $1,000 bought or sold (i.e. 2% transaction fee), up to $300 per investment
#26 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: FUNDANNA
“Lasting net worth comes only when you have a healthy and strong sense of self-worth.” -Suze Orman
Fundanna is the only site I’m aware of bringing crowdfunding to cannabis start-ups.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $100
HISTORICAL RETURNS: read how to make money investing in start-ups (different methods + risks & returns)
FEES: none
#27 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: LOCALSTAKE
“In stocks as in romance, ease of divorce is not a sound basis for commitment.” -Peter Lynch
LocalStake gives non-accredited investors the opportunity to loan money to restaurants and breweries. You’ll receive monthly returns as the restaurants and breweries pay their loans back each month (or own a portion of the business if you take that option). Their website says, “After you invest, you will begin to receive monthly revenue share payments from the company, if that is how the offering is structured. These typically start the month after the fundraising ends. All of the revenue share payments are directly deposited into the bank account…You will need to set up an account with our current payment processor, Dwolla, in order to receive these payments.”37
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $250
HISTORICAL RETURNS: no information advertised
FEES: none
#28 ALT INVESTMENT FOR THE NON-ACCREDITED INVESTOR: VINT
“Women often make better investors than men. Over a 10-year period, women earned, on average 0.4 percentage points more annually than men, a Fidelity analysis found.” -New York Times
Vint is a new company to help non-accredited investors tap into the “juicy” wine market. Vint allows investors to buy shares of rare wines (instead of buying individual bottles/cases). Unlike Vinovest, you can invest your I.R.A. account through Vint.38 I also could not find any information on how easy or hard it is to sell Vint shares if you need to get your money back.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: “below $50”
“HISTORICAL” RETURNS: They do not have any published historical returns, but they quote the general appreciation of wine in the last 10 years: 127%. 39
FEES: free for investors
*BONUS #1* ALTERNATIVE SAVINGS ACCOUNT: CONCREIT
“Most successful investors, in fact, do nothing most of the time.” -Jim Rogers
Concreit (a play on words of “REIT” – real estate investment trust) offers, essentially, a real-estate-backed “savesting” account. You can get your earnings paid out weekly if you like (set it up to pay out automatically once a week). Everything is done through their handy dandy app available for Apple & Android. Concreit also gives you the option to set up automated investments. From their website, “We are making private equity real estate accessible to all investors. Your money, once invested, is pooled together with other investors to acquire fixed-income first-lien mortgages that fuel potential returns. Concreit is not a bank and accounts are not bank guaranteed or FDIC insured.”40 Ya also gotta love the myriad of testimonials from their happy customers AND the ability to withdraw your money ANY TIME!
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $1
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 5.47%
FEES: pay $10/year for every $1,000 invested (i.e. 1.0% annual fee)
*BONUS #2* ALTERNATIVE SAVINGS ACCOUNT: WORTHY BONDS
“If you own dozens of stocks, you will minimize the chance that any single problem will sink your ship.” –
Worthy is making bond investing sexy again! Worthy Bonds loans money to local US businesses with your money and you get 5% interest. They have an automatic investing option too. You can withdraw your money at any time with no fees. Worthy was “sold out” of bonds when I created an account on 10/31/21.
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $10
HISTORICAL RETURNS: 5.0%
FEES: none
*BONUS #3* ALTERNATIVE “STASH” ACCOUNT: KIVA MICROLOANS
“Diversification is a protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they’re doing.” -Warren Buffett
Kiva is a non-profit organization that gives people the opportunity to “stash away” money in typically under-served communities. For example, you might loan $25 to a single mom in Kenya who wants to buy a sewing machine in order to start an alterations business so she can support herself. Kiva does not pay interest, but it’s a great alternative if you want to put some money out of your reach for awhile. Instead of financial interest, you’ll earn “good karma” interest.
According to their website, “Kiva loans have a historical repayment rate of about 97% (this number fluctuates slightly so check Kiva’s homepage for the current rate). Kiva does not guarantee repayment for any loans crowdfunded on the Kiva website.”41
MINIMUM INVESTMENT: $25
HISTORICAL RETURNS: good karma 💗🌎
FEES: none (borrowers pay all the fees)
FINAL THOUGHTS
“Money you spend today is money that will not be able to grow and help you reach your most important future goals.” -Suze Orman
There are additional alternative investments out there (see a laundry list of 182 unvetted/unranked alternative investments from Money Made here), but the ones that did not make my list were left off because:
- they had no investments available–everything they offered was already purchased by other investors (and a history of having zero to “few” investments was clear from other reviews)
- their websites contained extremely limited information about their fees, returns, and the details of how their investments work
- the company had negative reviews from established sites like Yieldstreet, NerdWallet, or Motley Fool (in some cases, companies had been fined by the SEC for fraud, etc)
- they primarily conduct business in a foreign currency (not in US dollars)
If you know of a great alternative investment for non-accredited investors that I left off this list, please leave it in the comments below. Thanks!
INVESTMENT QUOTES: POST & SHARE
“If you invest and don’t diversify, you’re literally throwing out money. People don’t realize that diversification is beneficial even if it reduces your return.” -Jeff Yass
POST WRITTEN BY
S.N. is the founder of Spiritual Virago. She is a vegetarian 🥕 + bonafied geek 📚 + mama bear 👨👧 + investor 📈. This former NCAA Track & Field All-American 🏃♀️ enjoys line dancing & is addicted to Burt's Bees chapstick 💄Read her inspiring story. She offers spiritual coaching, trauma mastery coaching, & business coaching. S.N. is also a celebrated speaker and author. Her personal motto: "It's not the size of the woman in the fight. It's the size of the fight in the woman." 💪💯
📸 INSTAGRAM :: @SpiritualVirago
Footnotes
- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/alternative_investment.asp
- https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/general-resources/news-alerts/alerts-bulletins/investor-bulletins/updated-3
- https://www.vinovest.co/why-wine
- https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/average-stock-market-return
- https://www.millionacres.com/real-estate-investing/crowdfunding/groundfloor-review/
- https://yieldtalk.com/mainvest-review/
- https://diversyfund.com/faq/what-are-your-fees/?utm_source=www.google.com%2F
- https://www.businessinsider.com/personal-finance/diversyfund-investing-review?r=MX&IR=T
- https://thinksaveretire.com/fundrise-diversyfund/
- https://fundrise.com/how-it-works
- https://www.masterworks.io/research/post/77RvL5TPv0ZBchLP4I0qDd
- https://www.delawareinc.com/blog/non-profit-corporation-vs-public-benefit-corporation/
- https://www.forbes.com/sites/afdhelaziz/2020/08/05/how-nico-a-benefit-company-is-using-fractional-ownership-to-help-local-communities-share-in-real-estate-success/?sh=38e65d1c141b
- https://moneymade.io/learn/review/nico-review
- https://www.yieldstreet.com/
- https://www.realtymogul.com/knowledge-center/why-reits
- https://yieldtalk.com/happynest-review/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angel_investor
- https://prosper.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/210013413-How-do-I-transfer-funds-to-and-from-my-investment-account-
- https://prosper.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/210013543-Are-there-any-fees-to-invest-through-Prosper-
- https://investinganswers.com/reviews/arrived-homes
- https://help.arrivedhomes.com/en/articles/4953922-what-returns-can-i-expect-from-arrived-properties
- https://moneymade.io/discover/arrived-homes
- https://www.benzinga.com/money/coinrule-review/
- https://www.upmyinterest.com/fund?tick=Bitcoin
- https://www.investopedia.com/crypto-com-vs-coinbase-5188428
- https://www.sidehustlenation.com/alternative-investment-platforms/
- https://www.fool.com/the-ascent/cryptocurrency/bitcoin-ira-review/
- https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/investing/buy-coinbase-stock
- https://www.investopedia.com/tech/coinbase-what-it-and-how-do-you-use-it/
- https://wefunder.com/results
- https://www.investopedia.com/terms/i/irr.asp
- https://help.wefunder.com/disclosures/295271-liquidity
- https://yieldtalk.com/republic-review/
- https://www.startengine.com/investor-faq
- https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2015/06/04/open-season
- https://localstake.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/213228178-How-do-I-receive-payments-after-investing-
- https://www.allied.vc/news/investing-in-vint
- https://vint.co/blog/how-do-wine-investors-make-money/
- https://concreit.com/#save-and-invest
- https://www.kiva.org/about/how
