Sam Dogen is a millionaire. What makes him different than other millionaires is the age at which he retired–34. Even more startling than that, he now regrets retiring at such an early age.
One of the reasons he regrets retiring so early is that he could have researched career opportunities in other sectors. As a finance professional, he could have written his ticket anywhere. He could have taken a risk on a new startup or continued climbing the career ladder at Fortune 500 companies. Instead, he retired.
To put things into perspective, Benjamin Franklin retired at age 42. Franklin’s second career was largely public. He parlayed his experience as a publisher into stints as a political mover, diplomat, inventor, scientist, postmaster, and writer. Had real estate crowdfunding existed in colonial America at the time, he might have tried his hand at that too. His interests were quite varied.
As speculative as that is, that’s precisely what Dogen said he should have done instead of retiring. Specifically, he stated, “I could have leveraged my interests in real estate and technology to start a real estate crowdfunding company–or, at the very least, join one.”
Joining one would have been less expensive in the long run and more lucrative in the short term.
Why Real Estate Crowdfunding Makes For Great Passive Income
Real estate crowdfunding has been around for about a decade now. Returns on investments average between 8.5 percent and 19.1 percent. Equity investments tend to offer higher returns, but they’re also riskier. These results are dependent, however, on the types of real estate investments, one puts one’s money into and the platforms where investments are held. While no platform can guarantee results, real estate crowdfunding has proven itself to be a solid asset class.
One of the key benefits to real estate crowdfunding is diversification. If you’re a serious investor, you likely already have capital tied up in certain assets. You might have investments in stocks and bonds, commodities such as gold and silver, and maybe even physical real estate. Among some investors, cryptocurrencies are popular. Real estate crowdfunding offers another asset class to help investors diversify their portfolios, and it can act as a hedge against downturns in the stock and commodities markets. These are some of the reasons investors seek passive income through real estate crowdfunding.
Of course, passive income works for anyone who is currently retired, planning retirement, or simply trying to supplement their income. As passive income, it offers serious private investors solid returns and awesome deal opportunities.
Don’t Retire Yet: There’s Money To Be Made
Just as Benjamin Franklin didn’t put all of his eggs in one basket, I wouldn’t recommend you do that either (and there were fewer baskets for eggs in the 1750s).
When it comes to retirement, it doesn’t happen on its own. Planning is required. Putting one’s money to work in any investment means spending time to perform some due diligence on that investment. In the case of real estate crowdfunding, it also means performing due diligence on the platform. Investors should be prepared to judge each platform by its management team, its underwriting practices, and the quality of its deals. When you decide to invest in real estate through any crowdfunding portal, that money becomes a part of your retirement portfolio, and when it comes time to retire–at whatever age you happen to be at the time–you’ll have one more passive income account to draw upon to live your life of Riley.
