1. You’re probably one of those investors who really don’t pay much attention to daily gyrations on
Wall Street. In fact, many wealth advisers say to allocate funds properly based upon your goals and
let the portfolio go to work for you while you do other things. But it’s really hard not to take a look
at equity markets here and abroad and not begin adding up losses. The Dow just today was down
400 for a brief period and fell below 16000. Of course, financing costs for real estate investors to
those buying their first home, poor performance on Wall Street translates into lower mortgage rates.
Take a look at what others are saying and it’s no wonder wealth preservation is a hot topic these
days. Just last week, an article on Forbes’ website points out that 93% of all investors lost money in
stocks last month. That’s right, only seven investors out of 100 saw positive gains. The rest saw
their equity positions slip away. USA Today* wrote just a couple of weeks ago that the markets took
$2.3 trillion from investors during 2015 and just in 2016 almost $1.5 trillion in net worth went
south.
Private investors who fund real estate acquisitions don’t see such a stealth of wealth and these
private notes can yield double digit returns. Such projects require the buyers to have a significant
equity stake at the outset, putting down anywhere from 30-50% of the projects value at the outset.
This is wealth creation as well as preservation. That is unless proceeds are taken from a real estate
project and transferred into a mutual fund or ETF. Of course, no one knows when this market will
finally find its footing and begin to provide positive returns once again but so far there confidence
in equities is hard to find. Just ask the 93%.
Tags: Real Estate Investing