7 More Helpful Tips For Investing in Alternative Investments

In today’s volatile marketplace, it is a great investment strategy to consider alternative investment opportunities.

There are several ways to avoid traditional investments and invest in alternatives to the stock market or mutual funds. Depending on your willingness to take risks, the rewards can be quite impressive. A good alternative investment strategy begins with doing a little research first.

With that being said, here are 7 more of my alternative investment tips that can help you determine your best investment strategy, if you are considering the alternatives to traditional investments:

1. Do your research: As you are investing your own money, it is vital that you learn how to do your own research on investment opportunities. There is a lot of information available on the Internet and sometimes it can be tricky to make your way through the pile. Take the time to read about the opportunities by visiting several websites, reading investor reviews and look for trusted authors and testimonials.
2. Find markets that are growing: Emerging Markets tend to be found in Latin America (Brazil, Chile etc) and East Asia (China, Taiwan, India) as well as some up-and-coming markets in Eastern Europe such as Belarus and Ukraine. These markets are growing at a much higher rate than mature markets such as North America and provide several appealing investing options.
3. Find trusted investment sources: Emerging markets tend to have several high-growth investment opportunities such as energy, real estate and asset ownership, such as shipping container investments. Depending on the market you choose – these main 3 options are good, known investment vehicles.
4. Invest in assets: If you can, find investment opportunities that are helping to purchase assets. Make sure the asset does not have a high depreciation value (such as solar panels) and that you are purchasing assets through a known entity, with a proven track record of great customer service.
5. Decide if you want long-term of short-term liquidity: Many emerging market economies allow for much shorter liquidity timelines, such as daily, weekly or monthly returns. Many countries in East Asia allow for monthly returns on an asset purchase, or a complete loan repayment within days of investing. This is done to help encourage outside investing and usually involves little red-tape.
6. Start small: If you are new to the East Asia or Latin America investment world, start small with a modest investment and track the results. Once you see your return and how easy it was to manage, then consider introducing more funds.
7. Invest in more than one industry: Any good portfolio manager will tell you to investment in diverse interests and industries. The same is true for introducing alternative investment opportunities.

In my mind, investors who follow these additional tips for investing in alternatives should have little (if any) trouble discovering something that matches their tolerance for investment risk, and sets the foundation for a good, long-term investment strategy.