Looking to Invest Beyond The Traditional Ways? You Need to Have a Look at These Alternatives

When we think about investing, we’re usually reminded of the traditional ways – stocks, bonds, and cash, to name a few. It’s common among individual investors to have an index fund in 401(k) or have cash in their savings account. But let’s not forget that traditional investments are merely a part of a much bigger picture. To ensure 360-degree success, we need to expand our investment portfolio to techniques that step beyond traditional norms.

Unsplash | To build real wealth, you need to put your money into untraditional investment domains

Read – How to set yourself up early for financial success?

Beyond traditional investments, there’s another category of dynamic assets called alternative investments, which cover a wide range of options, each with a unique property. Becoming increasingly accessible to all types of investors and industry professionals, they’ve become a significant part of the investing landscape.

If you, too are looking for an alternative investment, allow us to make you aware of the most important types and the features that make them unique.

Structured products

Structured products are pre-packaged investments that include the assets linked to interest plus derivatives. They’re designed to facilitate highly customized risk-return objectives. Besides offering some protection against losses, structured products also protect your portfolio against currency movements.

Unlike most collective investments, the catch here is that your investment will not be ring-fenced and will be held in with trust. Since the issuer’s liquidity is the highest risk factor of the product, you must select an issuer with a strong credit rating.

Real estate

There are various types of real assets like farmland, timberland, etc., but real estate is the most common type. Being the world’s biggest asset class, real estate allows property owners to receive current cash flow from tenants paying rent, making it somewhat similar to bonds and equity.

The main challenge in real estate investing is valuation. All real estate valuation methods have their shortcomings and benefits, be it income capitalization or discounted cash flow and sales. To successfully invest in real estate, it’s crucial to have insight into how and when to use all valuation methods.

Read – How effective is real estate as a portfolio diversifier

Unsplash | Real estate can be another great avenue to invest in

Summing it up

Alternative investments, besides offering a diversified portfolio, come with lower overall risks and high potential returns. And since they’re more available, both investors and aspiring investment professionals must have due knowledge about them.