What Are Alternative Investments?

There’s a whole world of assets beyond stocks and bonds.

Photo by Conny Schneider on Unsplash

Alternative investment definition

Alternative investments can be simply and effectively defined as investing in assets beyond publicly traded stocks and bonds.

Alternative investment examples

With such a broad definition, there’s a wealth of assets that fall under the umbrella of alternatives.

Here’s a few examples:

• Cryptocurrencies
• Private Real Estate
• Music Royalties
• Wine
• Stocks of private companies

There are far more, especially for those that are accredited investors. Hopefully these examples help illustrate the breadth and variety of asset classes available as alternatives to stocks.

Are alternative investments safe?

Nope! All investments carry risk.

There are a few extra risks that come with investing in alternatives that you may not be accustomed to.

First is liquidity.