Life Insurance Settlements Part 2 in a Series by Denis Shapiro WHAT IS THE ASSET? An investment in an individual life insurance policy or a fund that purchases multiple policies in exchange for potential returns after a stated period. Investors can begin with one investment and later add to their portfolios with more …
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Life Insurance & The Infinite Banking Concept Part 1 in a Series by Denis Shapiro WHAT IS THE ASSET? The Infinite Banking Concept (IBC) is based on investing in whole life insurance policies from a mutual life insurance company with the goal of maximizing the cash value of the policies instead of the …
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Should You Invest in Stocks or Real Estate? When I decided to write my book The Alternative Investment Almanac: Expert Insights on Building Personal Wealth in Non-Traditional Ways, I did so with the hopes of shedding some light on common misconceptions that exist in the investment world. I think, by far, the biggest misconception …
What Kind of Fees Should an Alternative Investor Expect to Pay? Today, the race to the bottom is on with most index funds found on Wall Street. This means that most brokerages across the country provide a low-to-no-fee way for individuals to invest in the entire stock market. For example, at the time of …
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What Is a Semi-Blind Real Estate Fund—And Is It Right for You? In one of my previous articles, I discussed the merits of investing in one real estate deal versus investing in a private real estate fund. Today, we’ll dive into a related topic: semi-blind real estate funds. As the name might suggest, a …
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What Is a Preferred Return? As an investor, you’ll run across the word “preferred” in multiple asset classes. One example is a preferred stock, which is a hybrid of an equity investment with distinct debt characteristics. Investors in a preferred stock receive their fixed distributions prior to common stock shareholders—and while common stock shareholders …
What You Should Know Before You Invest in ATM Funds ATM funds deal with a higher volume of cash transactions that lend themselves to disreputable operators looking to take advantage of investors; therefore, the ATM fund industry has a history of more Ponzi schemes compared to other alternative assets. Case in point: In one …
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Real Estate Underwriting & The Myth of “Conservative” Labeling Almost four years ago, I had an in-person appointment to discuss a prospective real estate syndication with a well-known operator that was local to me. At that time, I had been investing in small residential rentals for six years, but I was brand new to …
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You Want to Invest in Real Estate: Is a Syndication or Private Fund the Way to Go? Does this sound familiar? You’ve decided to invest in the real estate market, but you’re unclear about whether syndications or private equity funds are the best choice for your portfolio. In order to make an informed decision, …
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Private Equity Real Estate vs. Publicly Traded REITs In my article “Should You Invest in Stocks or Real Estate?”, I briefly discussed why investing in real estate investment trusts (REITs) is not the same thing as investing in private real estate. Now, let’s take a deeper dive on those differences and examine why classifying them …
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