10 Unique Investments You’ve Never Heard Of – Until Now

Besides traditional stocks, bonds, and cash, unique investments are hard to find these days. Don't get me wrong. There are lots of choices out there. But doesn't it seem like everyone is peddling the same alternative investments as everyone else?

You know the ones I'm talking about – publicly-traded REITs, crowdfunded real estate, hedge funds, commodities, or cryptocurrencies. Some of these are available to all investors. Others are only available to high net worth individuals or institutional investors.

Accredited investors have options that other investors don't. These investors have a net worth of $1 million or more (not including personal residence) or incomes in the last two years of $200,000 for individuals or $300,000 for joint filers with the expectation that income will continue. The rule comes from the SEC in Rule 501 of Regulation D. The idea behind the regulation is that these high net worth individuals are more sophisticated investors and can withstand losses better than their nonaccredited counterparts.

Those statements are both debatable. Let's face it. No one likes loss. And just because someone has a large amount of income or net worth doesn't indicate sophisticated investors. It just means they make a lot of money.

What follows is an introduction to nine unique investment options. Some are only available to accredited investors. Others are available to anyone looking for unique investments for 2022 and beyond.

Farmland

Though farmland is not unique in and of itself, investing in farmland can be difficult. Buying land outright is expensive. Depending on the area, it can be costly. Also, it's a hands-on activity to run a farm. Most people don't have the knowledge or expertise to do it. If you can't run the farm yourself, you'll need to hire someone to run it for you. Most people don't want to take on those responsibilities, so they look for something else.

There are options available where you don't have to run the farm yourself or have any farming expertise.

1. Farmtogether

FarmTogether offers a low-cost investment opportunity that allows investors to own real land. Land is less subject to inflation and more stable than many other investments. Why? For one thing, we're not making any more of it. The law of supply and demand means it's likely to increase in value.

Farmland offers an investment with little to no volatility compared to the stock markets. It does not move with the markets either. As a result, it provides an asset that is truly diversified from traditional stocks and bonds. For the last twenty years, farmland has not had a negative return. That's something not many investments can say.

For those looking for cash flow, they offer that as well. The typical investments range from $10,000 – $50,000 per transaction. That $10,000 number is much more accessible than many of these types of offerings. And there are precious few funds that offer investment in farmland with cash flow.

Pros

• The investment is in farmland, not the farm itself.
• Farmland is a more stable investment.
• Investors can get income from the rent and profits on the crops
• Investors can get capital gains when they sell the farmland

Cons

• Accredited investors only
• Investment is illiquid
• Higher minimums ($10,000 – $50,000)
• Farmland may not sell or sell at a price lower than expected

You can read a full review here.

2. Acretrader

Another opportunity to invest in farmland comes from AcreTrader. There are a couple of things that make AcreTrader unique.

1. The selection process  – The investment team, has a rigorous selection process. Less than 1% of the farms they visit get included.
2. Separate legal entities  – Each farm gets placed in a separate entity. More often than not, that entity is an LLC. Investors own shares in the LLC rather than directly in the farmland. That provides a layer of liability protection for the investors.

Investors make money in two ways – cash flow and capital gains from the sale of a property. The cash flow comes from the rent paid by those operating the farm. Capital gains occur when the farmland sells. Like other alternative investments, you should view these as long-term investments. AcreTrader gets involved in all aspects of the farming operation, including insurance, accounting, working with the local farmer to improve the land's farming and sustainability.

Here's how farmland returns compare to stocks.

Pros

The pros and cons of AcreTrader are similar to FarmTogether.

• Rigorous farmland selection process reduces the risk of investing (<1% accepted)
• Experienced team of professionals with farmland and financial expertise
• Investors can specify which investment they want. Each one is a separate entity
• Investors receive both cash flow and capital gains when they sell the property

Cons

• Limited liquidity. A secondary market may exist via the AcreTrader marketplace. No guarantee a buyer will step forward.
• Higher minimums ($10,000 – $25,000)
• Farmland may not sell or sell at a price lower than expected
• Cash flow is not guaranteed and can fluctuate based on market conditions

3. Fine Wine

Vinovest offers a unique alternative investment – fine wine.

The first thing to know about investing in fine wine is that it takes knowledge to understand how to choose the right wines. Vinovest has a team of experts, called sommeliers, who have undergone rigorous training over several years. Three of their four sommeliers have achieved the Master Sommelier title. That's the highest degree of recognition in the wine industry. These folks know their wine.

Wine selections come from their knowledge and a sophisticated algorithm their technical team developed — the result – the best wines with the best chance or price appreciation. You own the individual bottles. Vinovest will store and age the wine at their state-of-the-art facilities worldwide and guarantee the safety of your wine.

The minimum investment is just $1,000. It's a unique offering and worthy of consideration. Here is how fine wine stacks up against other investments:

Pros

• Lower investment minimum ($1,000)
• Investment is liquid. You can sell all or a portion of your bottles at any time.
• Wines are chosen based on technology and with Master Sommeliers.
• Investment security – insurance, stored in secured vaults, guaranteed authenticity (eliminates fraud)

Cons

• No guarantee wines will appreciate.
• Higher fees (2.85%) relative to mutual funds, ETFs, and other traditional investments (lower than many alternative investments)
• Tax reporting – Vinovest only sends 1099s for sales greater than $20,000. For transactions less than that, it's up to the investor to self-report

Read this review of Vinovest for a more detailed description.

4. Luxury Watches

Fraud is rampant in the high-end jewelry business in general. Luxury watches are no different. Luxury watches are another investment where if you don't know what you're doing, you can lose a lot of your hard-earned dollars.

We recently discovered a company that takes much of the risk of investing in luxury watches – LuxeStreet, Inc. We're not talking about a $5,000 watch. We're talking about watches with a price range from a minimum of $50,000 up to $1 million. They specialize in the following four brands:

• Audemars Piguet
• Patek Philippe
• Richard Mille
• Rolex

What kind of return can you expect? How does a 12% annual cash flow sound? That cash flow gets paid monthly to investors (1% per month). Here's a look at the offering:

As you may know, fraud is prevalent in the jewelry industry. Before deciding to purchase a watch against which to lend money, the team at LuxeStreet goes through an extensive process to value the watch. Part of the due diligence process is to determine if the watch is legitimate.

LuxeStreet has made this investment available with a minimum investment of $10,000. If you're an accredited investor looking for a unique alternative, you should take a closer look at  LuxeStreet.

Pros

• Loans collateralized by luxury watches owned by LuxeStreet.
• Loans are short-term, which is less risky than their longer-term counterparts.
• Little to no default risk. There have been zero defaults of the $5.02 million loans to date. In this high-end market, it's rare.
• A great source of passive income in a low-interest-rate environment (12% annual)

Cons

• Investment is illiquid. It's a three-year commitment with no liquidity for the asset during the three-year term.
• No guarantee that the dealer will repurchase the watch or that LuxeStreet can sell it at a price needed
• Default risk – though there have been no defaults on the loans to date, there is no guarantee there won't be in the future.
• LuxeStreet is a newer company (August 2018) and carries a higher risk than a more mature company.

Here is a full review of LuxeStreet.

5. Art

Many of the uber-wealthy make a lot of money investing in art. Like with many investments, the problem is the price point to invest. With works selling for hundreds of thousands, even millions of dollars, that market is out of reach for most.

That's where Masterworks comes into play. The team at Masterworks has a four-step investment process.

1. Masterworks find the paintings they want and use their own money to buy them.
2. Once the paintings are purchased, they file an offering circular with the SEC to offer them publicly.
3. They offer shares for investors to purchase, representing ownership in the painting.
4. When Masterworks sells the painting, investors get their proportional share of the profits.

They only purchase paintings from top-performing artists. Here is a list of some artists and the historical returns on investments in these artists' work.

Like the other investments we've featured, the art is a noncorrelated asset with the stock market. Plus, they offer competitive returns.

Pros

• An experienced team that select paintings by top performing artists
• The selections come from a database of over 1 million paintings
• Masterworks only chooses paintings that meet specific appreciation potential
• $1000 minimum initial investment.

Cons

• Hedge fund like high fees – 1.5% plus 20% of profits
• Illiquid – no current market to sell shares
• Must be approved to invest
• No guarantee art will sell at a profit.

6. Startups

When investing, risk and return are always related.

In other words, the higher the expected return of an investment, the greater the risk of that investment. That's an essential investment principle that many forget. If you want a 10% return, you're going to have to take on a significant amount of risk to get that expected return.

Startups, newer companies looking to raise money, are the epitome of that investment principle. They are high-risk companies that offer incredibly high returns if they make it. Typically, these companies attract angel investors, venture capital, and hedge funds.

Enter Republic.co – Republic is a unique company that offers investors the chance to invest in these tech startups for as little as $10.00.

As an investor, you will be an investor with the V.C. firms and angel investors that also invest in the startups. Republic invests its own money into the investments as well.

Since investors only make money if the startup succeeds, investors should only invest as much money as they are willing to lose.

Pros

• Potential for a very high return on investment
• Republic invests alongside you. They invest their own money into startups.
• Rigorous selection process. Only 3% of the companies they review get selected.
• The service is free to investors. The startup pays Republic's fees.

Cons

• Among the riskiest investments. Investors could lose their entire investment if the startup doesn't make it.
• You get no income along the way.
• You have limited ability to sell shares. A one-year lockup means transfers or sales must meet specific criteria.
• Investors must apply and get approved to participate.

7. Invest With the Top Fund Managers

You hear a lot of debate about whether active or passive management of investments is better. I'll leave it to others to settle that debate. If you believe that active management should be part of your investment strategy, take a look at Round.

The team at Round offers access to some of the top fund managers. They build a portfolio with those fund managers on your behalf. To get started, you go to their website and answer a few questions about yourself, your goals, and risk. From there, the team seeks the best fund managers to fit your needs. They monitor the portfolio daily, making adjustments as market conditions warrant. That's not to say they are a day trading platform – far from it.

Most investments with these top fund managers have high minimum assets. That's not the case with Round. You can start with an investment as low as $500.00! They charge an annual management fee of 0.50% of the amount you invest. And here's one of the best things. Investors pay no fee in any month their portfolio doesn't make money. That's extremely rare with the top fund managers.

Pros

• Low minimum account size – $500
• Full liquidity – you can withdraw money at any time
• Easy online account opening
• Access to some of the top active management funds

Cons

• Not for those seeking passive management
• Though the fee is less than many managers, it's higher than passive funds (0.50%)
• Risk – investments are in the traditional stock and bond markets. Expect short-term fluctuations and market drops.
• If you request money at a time of a market drop, you could lose money.

Get the details about Round to learn more and invest.

8. Peer to Peer Lending

If you're looking for another way to earn passive income, you may want to consider peer-to-peer lending platforms. Peer-to-peer lending allows investors to diversify their assets by investing in different types of loans. The type of loans you choose will determine your investment return and risk exposure (remember, risk and return are related).

Some lenders allow you to start with as little as $25 in a single loan. Your investment is combined with other investors to make up the entire loan amount. While others may want to invest more many sticks with $25 to reduce their risk exposure. By only investing a small amount in different loans, you can reduce your risk of default.

After making your initial investment, you will receive passive income as the borrower makes payments. As the borrower pays down the loan, you will receive monthly interest payments. Even if you don't plan on reinvesting your passive income back into the platform, you will still earn a return on your investment. Keep in mind that interest rates vary and depend on several factors, including the borrower's creditworthiness and loan amount.

Pros

• It's a relatively low-risk investment that pays a competitive passive income rate.
• Minimum investment as low as $25
• As the borrower pays off the loan, you get paid.
• Higher interest rates than traditional fixed-income investments

Cons

• Investment is in personal loans. If a borrower defaults, you can lose your investment, have your income lowered, or both.
• The higher the interest rate, the higher your risk. Higher interest rates mean a riskier borrower, increasing the risk of loss.
• No FDIC insurance like you'd get on bank C.D.s or high yield savings accounts.
• Each lender has different loan standards. If you don't understand those standards, you could take on more risk than you thought.

Peer to Peer Lenders

• Prosper
• Lending Tree
• Upstart
• Funding Circle

9. Forex

The world of stocks and shares can alienate many investors because investors see them as volatile and seemingly bankers' realm. However, many novice investors are beginning to look towards the world of Forex.

Forex investing means selling and buying currencies against one another to profit. Set up a dummy account on an online Forex platform and practice selling yen against the pound and buying dollars against the krona.

When you have honed your skills, you can take the investment plunge for real. It can be challenging to find the time to research the markets, but this higher-risk investment can be hugely lucrative.

10. Franchises

FranShares offers a unique investment opportunity, unlike any traditional asset class. For as little as $500, investors can own a stake in what they describe as proven franchises. For those not familiar with the term, a franchise has two components. First is the franchisee. Franchisees are the investors who buy the franchise. The franchisor owns the parent company and sells the franchise to local (primarily) investors.

The startup costs to build a business can be pretty high. The business expertise required to run a franchise is also a deterrent to many. FranShares offers a way to passively invest in franchises that have been vetted thoroughly and provide a low investment entry point. FranShares offers investments in multiple industries, including hair care, fitness, and kids.

Investors may earn money in two ways – passive income and franchise value, which they expect to increase over time.

Here is our full review of FranShares. Get on the waitlist here.

Bonus: Fixer-uppers

By buying a fixer-upper to renovate, you can outperform the market and sell a second property at a profit. When looking at homes for sale, consider the demographic you are targeting.

Those wealthier families need larger homes in highly desirable areas. Young professionals will want apartments and penthouses in the city center. Consider how far your budget will stretch and purchase the worst house on the best street. 

Final Thoughts

As you can see, there are several unique investments available. They may be hard to find, but they are out there.

If you're looking for an investment that is noncorrelated to the stock and bond markets, is more stable, and has a competitive expected return, one of these may fit your need. As with any investment, be sure it meets your overall investment strategy and goals. If it doesn't, it may hurt more than help.

Additionally, most of the theses unique investments are not liquid. That means you cannot quickly get your money out of them. It's best to consider these types of assets to be long-term in nature.

We hope you found the ten unique investments we introduced here helpful. If they fit into your overall investment strategy, we think they are worthy of your consideration.

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This article was produced and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.

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