The Best Investment Options for the Wealthy
If you’re lucky enough to count yourself among the wealthiest one percent (or anywhere close), then you’ve no doubt developed a few strategies along the way to protect your money and make it work for you. You’ve likely got an impressive portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds, retirement accounts, and the like already in place, as well as an army of brokers tending to your every need. And there are probably a few overseas investments in your pockets, as well (hey, you don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket). You might even be in bed with a for-the-wealthy-elite bank like Wells Fargo offshoot Abbot Downing, which caters to those looking to invest a cool $50 mil or more. But people with money are always looking for new ways to invest it, especially methods that help to grow their fortune or act as tax shelters of some sort. So here are a few current options that may catch your fancy.
If you’re looking for alternatives to the standard stocks and bonds route, one good place to consider investing your money these days is in property and there are myriad ways to see a return when doing so. Certainly you could buy and sell houses, but you probably don’t want the headaches that come with what virtually amounts to flipping, especially not the way the real estate market currently stands. However, there are other options. For example, you could invest in properties that offer you the opportunity to earn a passive income. In other words, you could buy rental properties. These could be houses, duplexes, or even apartment complexes (although you’ll want to assess the tax laws that apply beforehand). The rent will pay for the mortgage and often a bit more, leaving you with a valuable asset that someone else is paying for.
But unless you feel like playing the happy landlord, you’ll have to hire a management company, which could eat into your profits over time. Instead, you may want to consider a REIT, or Real Estate Investment Trust, instead. This type of investment allows you the ease of a hands-off approach to investing. These trusts may purchase either residential or commercial properties (although more often the latter) and pay out dividends based on the earnings garnered from tenants, with additional funds coming from sales.
Of course, owning or investing in property might not be your bag, even though the timing is ideal thanks to an ongoing buyer’s market. You might also look into the purchase of land, consider the acquisition of a private company (or simply invest in one or more), or put money into business development companies, which are quickly coming to replace banks as the lenders of choice for mid-cap businesses. When you number yourself amongst the wealthy, investment prospects are practically unlimited. You could almost create your own virtual stock market of investments in you wanted to. But you didn’t get to the one percent by foolishly throwing around money and now is no time to start. So even if you might not notice a few pennies missing along the way, it’s a good idea to talk to your financial advisor about options before you dive in.