6 Alternative Investments To Boost Your Retirement Fund

Preparing for retirement is so important, and the earlier you get started, the easier it will be. Don’t keep putting it off and telling yourself that it’s a long way off and you don’t need to worry about it yet. If you do that, you will end up playing catch up in your 50s and you won’t have the financial security that you need when you retire. If you get started with your savings early on, you will benefit from growth and your savings account will look very healthy when you retire. 

The most common options for retirement savings are an IRA or a 401K. You get some good tax benefits and your money is safe. Everybody should have some of their money in a retirement account, but there are some other options as well. Often, it’s a good idea to spread your money around and look into some of the other alternatives to a traditional retirement account. These different options give you the opportunity to make bigger returns on your investment and boost your retirement savings in a big way. However, it is important to remember that there are more risks involved, so you should still keep some of your savings in a traditional retirement fund. 

If you are going to put your money into alternative investments, you can use a self-directed IRA to manage them. They work in a similar way to a traditional IRA account, but you can use them to invest in a wide range of different things, rather than just paying into them. This self directed ira guide will give you more information on how they work and how you can get one. This is the safest way to put your money in alternative investments so you can ensure that your retirement savings are protected. 

These are some of the best alternatives to traditional retirement funds to help you boost your savings. 

Real Estate 

Real estate investments are one of the most common investment strategies right now. Property prices are on the rise and there are more people than ever renting. That means that property owners can make regular income, and this is incredibly useful when you are retired. Having that asset there also means that you have the option of selling in later life if you need a cash injection to fund your retirement or cover medical costs. 

When you are investing in real estate, you have a number of different options. The best way to give yourself regular income is to invest in a residential property and rent it out to tenants. If you are going to go down this route, it is important that you take advice from your real estate agent so you can find a property in a good location where you can charge a reasonable amount of rent. It is also a good idea to use a property management company to deal with finding tenants, collecting rent, and doing maintenance on the property. If this is an investment for retirement, you don’t want it to eat up all of your time. 

Vacation properties are another great option for a retirement investment. Often people want to travel during retirement and if you have a vacation property of your own, it makes that a lot easier. When you are not using the property with your family, you can rent it out and earn some money from it. 

If you do not want a long term investment and you just want a short term boost to your retirement savings, you could consider flipping houses. If you buy a cheap property in a good location then renovate it, you can sell it on for a big profit. However, this is the most hands on kind of property investment as you will need to oversee the renovations, so make sure that you are prepared for that. 

Peer To Peer Lending 

The way that money lending works is changing a lot, and banks are not the only place to borrow from anymore. Peer to peer lending sites put people in need of loans in touch with people that have money to invest. If you have some savings set aside, you can lend it out to people through a peer to peer lending site, and get paid back with interest. The sites will assess all of their users so you have some protections, but there are still some risks there. It’s not a good idea to put all of your money into peer to peer lending, but there are a lot of people on there that are looking for small loans. You can usually earn somewhere between 4-8% interest, so it’s a good way to earn more money from your savings. 

Commodities 

Commodities refer to a wide range of different goods or services, and where investing is concerned, that means things like gold, silver or platinum. It can also refer to things like oil or gas or even food products. These are good things to invest in because they tend to hold their value quite well, although there are some exceptions. The price of gold, for example, stays relatively strong regardless of what the economy is doing which is why investors often sell up their stocks and put their money behind gold during a recession. If you are looking for a good long term investment, you should consider putting your money into commodities and the right picker stocks to get ahead of the market. You can buy shares in commodities in the same way that you would buy stocks and shares in a company, so you do not need to buy physical gold and sell it on.

Cryptocurrency 

Cryptocurrency is one of the most popular new investment strategies and there are a lot of stories out there about people making millions from it. It’s important to recognize that those people are the exception, not the rule, and you are not going to become a millionaire overnight if you buy some Bitcoins. However, if you invest in cryptocurrency carefully, you can see some good returns. Before you part with any money, make sure that you do your research so you can understand exactly how the markets work. Cryptocurrency can be very unpredictable so you need to be very careful and make sure not to put all of your money behind it. 

Art 

Art is not a particularly common investment but it can be a very lucrative one, as long as you know what you are doing. Art appreciates in value a lot, but only if it is considered valuable by the art world. That’s why it’s important that you take advice from a professional instead of just buying art that you enjoy. However, you should also look for things that you are happy to have up at home so you can get use out of your investment and enjoy it before you sell it on, if you ever decide to. 

Small Businesses

If you have a good amount of money saved up, you should consider starting your own small business. There are some great online businesses that you can start and run from home, which gives you regular income and also gives you something to focus on during your retirement. Alternatively, you can look for other businesses that are looking for investment and put your money behind them. Just make sure that you assess their finances and their business plan carefully so you can be sure that they are going to be successful. 

Retirement accounts are a safe place to put your money, but if you want to diversify your savings, you should try some of these alternative investment opportunities. And if you’re unsure of how much you’ll need, use this retirement calculator.