Best Alternative Investment Platforms

Looking for ways to diversify your portfolio and boost returns? This list of the best alternative investment platforms is a great place to start.

Quick Look at the Best Alt Invest Platforms

• Best for Fractional Real Estate: Arrived Homes
• Best for Real Estate Crowdfunding: Crowdstreet
• Best for Student Housing Investors: Collab
• Best for Employers and Employees: EquityBee
• Best for Accredited Investors: Gatsby Investment
• Best for Trading Ideas: Public.com
• Best for Non-Accredited Investors: Cityfunds by Nada
• Best for Investors Looking for a Diverse Range of Offerings: EquityMultiple
• Best for Diverse Range of Offerings: Yieldstreet
• Best for Real Estate Notes: Groundfloor
• Best for Accredited Investors: Propel(x)
• Best for Artwork: Masterworks
• Best for Wine: Vint
• Best for Gold: Vaulted
• Best for Watches: Bezel

Different financial advisors take different approaches to investing. But the piece of advice that nearly all of them give almost all of their clients is to diversify their portfolio. The logic behind this is simple. Even the best investments go through down cycles, which means putting all your investment eggs in 1 basket is inherently risky. Diversifying your portfolio minimizes the risk that all your investments go south at the same time.  One of the best ways to diversify your portfolio is by making alternative investments.

The Best Alternative Investment Platforms

One of the miracles of the internet is how much smaller it has made the world of investing. Before the internet, if you wanted to make an alternative investment in wine or art, you’d have to have a wine cellar or warehouse to store it in. Then you’d have to arrange security and insurance for the investments. It would literally be a full-time job. 

But thanks to the internet, there are now dozens of alternative investment platforms where you can pick and choose what to invest in while someone else does the heavy lifting. Some of Benzinga’s favorite alternative platforms are listed below.

Arrived Homes

Arrived Homes is one of the newest and fastest growing crowdfunding platforms on the internet. The company allows non-accredited investors to buy shares in carefully selected rental properties.

The minimum investment is only $100, making it easy to start earning passive income from real estate and to diversify across multiple properties. Investors simply collect quarterly dividends from their properties while waiting for the asset to increase in value over time. Arrived Homes takes care of finding tenants as well as all of the management

CrowdStreet

CrowdStreet is a real estate crowdfunding platform that offers investors the chance to purchase equity shares in various real estate investments around the country. It’s a great way to get involved in real estate, but you must be an accredited investor to buy into any CrowdStreet offerings. That means only investors who pass a certain net worth threshold are eligible.

If you are accredited, CrowdStreet offers some great investment opportunities with the potential for very high returns. The downside is that the minimum buy-ins are on the high side, and most CrowdStreet investments don’t pay dividends for several years. 

Collab

Collab offer unique investment opportunities, especially in the student housing sector. When you invest in this space, you can hedge your investments against inflation and collect returns. As a decentralized student housing and asset management platform, you can use Collab to invest in these properties. There’s also a community-driven management system that makes it easier for both investors and tenants.

If you’re thinking of using Collab, consider that it provides:

• Access for mid to long-term investors
• Balanced investment opportunities
• Investments with which recent grads may be familiar
• Access to alternative assets
• High cash dividends
• Quality service
• Low minimums 

EquityBee

EquityBee is an excellent alternative investment platform, providing investors with access to startups and growing firms. At the same time, startups and companies with big ideas can access retail investors through EquityBee—broadening their reach.

Employees can use the platform to push their stock options back into the firm and take part in its future success. 

Investors can use EquityBee to diversify their investments, gain access to companies that have no IPO’d or even make their first investments in the private sector. 

By funding employee stock options, EquityBee makes it possible to serve both team members and investors. With a minimum investment of $10,000, EquityBee allows you to get in on the ground level today.

Gatsby

Gatsby Investment was founded in 2016 by Dan Gatsby to provide accredited investors with a place where they can find a range of residential and commercial properties providing regular returns.

The firm gives investors access to house flips, renovations, new developments, short-term rentals and long-term rental properties. Plus, these investment opportunities all come from the L.A. real estate market—one of the most vibrant and valuable in the world.

A real estate syndication structure allows investors to pool funds and invest in large properties they could not have purchased on their own. Plus, the company can handle renovations, maintain these buildings, provide a good experience for tenants and generate profits.

With a minimum of $10,000, you can get started today and track the properties you’ve invested in at any time.

Public.com

If you want to diversify your portfolio beyond stocks, ETFs, and crypto, you may be looking at alternative assets as a new investment vehicle. Public.com recently launched alternative assets on their platform—meaning you can now invest in art, collectibles, and more right from their app.

You can use the interactive interface to learn more about each asset you choose before buying, and you can track the movement of each asset so that you know your investments are truly performing.

If you’re not sure what to buy or when to sell, you can check out the social feed to learn what other traders are doing. Perhaps they’ll lend you some inspiration.

Plus, there’s a massive educational section where you can learn all about alternative assets and how they should fit into your portfolio. All of this happens on your mobile phone or tablet and you don’t need any investing experience to get started.

Cityfunds by Nada

When you invest in Cityfunds by Nada, you can invest in a piece of a city for as little as $250. Anyone can buy into the program at any time with this small minimum deposit, and you are putting your stake into a piece of a city.

The firm invests in residential real estate in a particular market, especially high-demand markets like Miami, Dallas and Austin. You can also buy and sell your shares in these cities like stocks so that you aren’t relying on a particular development to see a return.

In short, Cityfunds by Nada combines what you love about ETFs with what is the largest asset class in the world. Plus, you can get yourself on the waitlist for the Nada Card, a debit card that will allow you to earn rewards that you can invest further in your real estate portfolio.

EquityMultiple

EquityMultiple is a new alternative investment platform that uses technology to make real estate investing easier to understand for the investor, especially when you need help choosing the right investments. There are short-term and long-term growth options, and you can make the most of the cash you invest by pinpointing the real estate in which you would like to invest, without buying properties yourself.

In short, EquityMultiple offers:

• Quick returns
• Low buy-in pricing, often less than $10,000
• Excellent client support

Remember, this platform is only for accredited investors, but it allows you to do the hands-on work that you do with your other investments. You can learn all the information you need to know, but you’re never tasked with managing these properties. You simply see the profits when they come in.

Yieldstreet

Yieldstreet offers an all-in-one alternative investment platform with offerings for non-accredited investors as well as offerings available to accredited investors only. Yieldstreet regularly has new investment opportunities available, ranging from commercial real estate, art equity funds, structured notes, portfolios of consumer debt and many others.

Even if you're not quite ready to jump into one of Yieldstreet's offerings, it's worth signing up for the platform to gain access to the many webinars and educational content available to learn the ins and outs of various types of alternative investments.

Groundfloor

Groundfloor is an alternative real estate investing platform that offers investments in high-yield, short-term real estate loans. The platform is open to non-accredited investors and private individuals looking for active real estate alternative investment. Groundfloor has great volume with an average of 50-70 investments available at any given time.. 

Individuals with small portfolios will also like the low $10 minimum and 0 investor fees. The low minimum investment allows investors to easily diversify their Groundfloor portfolio across multiple loan offerings. 

Propel(x)

Propel(x) is a platform that’s designed for accredited investors and startups. If you’re an investor, you can enter the platform and pay a 2% platform fee to invest in a wide range of products, businesses and ideas. With a minimum investment of $10,000, you can easily budget and allocate your funds to companies you believe in.

If you wish to invest as part of a syndicate, your minimum investment is $5,000, making the platform even more accessible than it is for individuals. Syndicates pay a 7.5% platform fee, and you will pay a 10% exit fee when you move on from said investment.

Investments on Propel(x) are heavily curated, cover a wide range of industries and are always easy to access. You can even take advantage of concierge onboarding so that you get set up perfectly and can begin investing right away.

Masterworks

This alternative investment platform is based on fine art. It identifies select artists and buys works, which are then registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a regulation A share offering. Investors will then share in the profits when the artwork they’ve invested in is sold. 

Masterworks features works from famous artists both living and dead. In fact, it even has works by Banksy — the pseudonym of the England-based Street artist.  This is, however, a long-term investment. Unlike investment real estate, there is no residual income generated by Masterworks investments, and investors must be willing to wait for several years before earning a dividend. 

Vint

Anyone who has ever been to a fancy restaurant and ordered a bottle of wine knows it can be expensive. That’s because wine is produced in finite quantities, and fine wine is in high demand worldwide. That makes it a great alternative investment. Vint allows retail investors to benefit from the price increased caused by this high demand with its wine investment platform.

Vint has the buying power, industry connections and knowledge necessary to gain access to the most sought-after wines on the market at attractive prices before they reach peak value. The company also makes it possible for individual investors to gain access to these wines with a much smaller minimum investment than seeking these bottles out on their own.

Vaulted

Vaulted is a mobile app that allows you to buy and sell gold with your smartphone. It’s an all-in-one service that will also store your gold securely in the Royal Canadian Mint’s vault for a low annual maintenance fee. Vaulted offers some of the lowest transaction fees and highest level of transparency among online gold brokers.

Bezel

The luxury watch market has been growing of late, and Bezel allows you to enter this market without hunting in antique shops or social media marketplaces. Launched in 2022, Bezel offers a highly curated selection of luxury timepieces from household names like Cartier, Rolex, Tag Heuer, Tiffany and more. 

Bezel’s mobile app is just as easy to use as its website, and the catalog appeals to both new collectors and timepiece enthusiasts or even those looking for that one special watch.

At Bezel, you gain peace of mind and get the value you deserve with:

• Digital and in-house authentication of every timepiece before it’s listed for sale
• A range of sellers from private owners to dealers and resellers
• Extraordinary customer care
• Fully insured overnight shipping
• Available warranties (for an added cost)

While Bezel is only available in the U.S., it’s the best way for you to invest in watches, add value to a diverse portfolio, adorn your wrist with some luxury, find the perfect gift or resell a watch that lost its spot in your rotation.

What is an Alternative Investment?

Any investment you make in something outside of stocks and bonds is considered an alternative investment. It may sound exotic but in reality, people have been making alternative investments for a long time. Historically, real estate and gold are 2 of the most popular alternative investments. You can diversify your portfolio by making alternative investments as supplements to your stocks and bonds, or you can have a portfolio that consists entirely of different alternative investments.  

Types of Alternative Investments

As discussed in the section above, real estate and gold are 2 of the most commonly held alternative investments. With that said, there is a multitude of alternative investments you can make. Here are some of the most popular options:

1. Real estate
2. Precious metals (gold, silver, platinum)
3. Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin or Dogecoin
4. Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
5. Startups
6. Collectibles such as baseball cards, historical items and rare jewelry
7. Wine
8. Art

Conclusion

Alternative investments may sound like a fancy, New Age concept, but that’s far from the truth. In fact, if you own real estate, you have already made an alternative investment. Many people who see the wisdom of investing, but are put off by the volatility of the stock market, have been gravitating toward alternative investments for quite some time. With that said, it’s important to remember that there is an incredible variety of alternative investments outside of real estate or even gold. The rise of internet-based alternative investment platforms has opened up a whole new world to potential investors.

Now you can buy shares of startup companies, wine futures and even sports collectibles as alternative investments. Some have high payoffs and an elevated risk level, while others may require investor accreditation and the ability to wait a long time before earning a dividend. 

Other alternative investments have an active secondary market that allows you to liquidate your shares quickly. The variety is nearly limitless. Alternative investments can be a great way to diversify your portfolio, but you still must consider the risks and choose wisely. As always, Benzinga is a great place to go for neutral information on all the pluses and minuses. 

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