If you have a healthy savings account and you are looking for ways to invest for your future, you are probably trying to decide between stocks, bonds or real estate. These are the most popular investment strategies right now, and if you know what you are doing, you can make a good profit on any of them.

However, when choosing an investment strategy, it sometimes pays to think outside the box and it’s important that you consider what you want out of an investment.

Real estate investments might be a great option for some people, but if you invest in a residential property, you need to deal with maintenance and finding tenants. If the tenants don’t pay their rent on time, that causes a lot of problems for you and you’ll have to manage the situation. If you want a low maintenance, hands-off investment, real estate is not a great choice. When it comes to stocks and bonds, it can be tough to make sensible investment choices if you are not very experienced.

The good news is, there are a lot of different investment opportunities that people never even think about. These are some of the best alternative investment opportunities to consider.

Peer to Peer Lending

Peer to peer lending is becoming a very popular investment strategy as banks are tightening restrictions on who they will lend money to. People with a poor credit rating are finding it harder than ever to borrow from traditional institutions, so they are turning to peer to peer lending sites instead.

A peer to peer lending site puts borrowers in touch with investors that are looking to lend money, with no middle man. They often have lower interest rates than banks, so it’s a win for the borrower, but you will still earn more interest than you would if your money was sitting in a savings account. People often worry that the borrowers will default on the loan because of their bad credit rating, but these sites don’t let just anybody borrow. You still need to have a score between 640 and 660, in most cases, so even though it’s not great, it’s not bad. All of the borrowers are vetted beforehand as well, so the lenders have some protection, but it’s important to note that there is always risk involved.

Bail Bonds

If somebody is sent to jail, they will often have the option of paying bail so they can get out while they are awaiting trial. However, these bail payments can be very expensive, which is why people turn to companies like Absolute Bail Bonds, Inc who can post bail for them, and then collect the money later, taking a percentage for themselves. Investing in these bail bonds is a great way to make quick returns on your money, although there is some risk involved. It may not be a good idea to put all of your money into bail bonds, but it’s a good way to expand your portfolio and make investments with a faster turnaround.

Art

Art is a great investment that you can enjoy right now while the investment matures. If you are able to buy pieces that you enjoy, but are also worth money, you can make some big profits in the long term and brighten up your home in the short term. However, investing in art does take a lot of research because there are not solid trends you can follow in the art world. The value of paintings is driven by art experts and buyers, and what they consider worth paying for. You won’t be able to afford to buy paintings by the most famous artists in the world right now, but you will be able to afford paintings by up and coming artists. If you can get in on the ground floor when artists are starting to make a name for themselves, their work will appreciate in value a lot over the years.

Gold

Gold is a very popular investment because, although it doesn’t always perform brilliantly, it is relatively stable. Most importantly, it performs very well during times of economic downturn as people lose trust in banks and currency. There is a lot of financial uncertainty at the moment, so now is a great time to start investing in gold.

Wine

Wine appreciates in value a lot over time, and many people are using it as an investment tool as well as a hobby. If you are passionate about wine and you know how to spot a good vintage from a bad one, you should consider making some investments in the future and buying in larger amounts. As long as you keep it for long enough, and you have the right climate controlled storage area to keep it in good condition, you could make a lot of money. The important thing is that you buy early when the wine is cheap, so you can benefit from the price appreciation over time.

Memorabilia

A lot of people collect memorabilia of all different kinds, and it’s a fun hobby to have. But it can also be a great investment strategy as well. Things like baseball cards, for example, can be worth a huge amount of money these days, especially if you have some very rare ones. You can usually find them for sale online and, although you may have to pay quite a bit for them, they are likely to appreciate in value.

At the minute, pop culture memorabilia is a great investment to make. Models from movies and TV shows are very popular right now, and there is a strong chance that these kinds of items will be worth a lot in the future, especially collectors edition ones. If you are interested in that kind of thing, it may be worth investing a bit of money in it.

If you want to invest money, you don’t need to stick to stocks, bonds or real estate. These are all great alternative investment strategies that you may not have considered before.

Cryptocurrencies Other Than Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies are taking the spotlight away from the money that fills our wallets. The main difference? Crypto is run by a decentralized system online, not a government or other type of authority. This means they cannot be corrupted. For the future, this can imply a lot of things, but mainly that the current system, which many people are unhappy with, will be totally restructured if cryptocurrency becomes the main source of exchange.

Important research on crypto to undergo includes the various types of cryptocurrencies – right now, there are at least a dozen cryptocurrencies flooding the market, and many more are in the works of getting noticed. The main ones crypto are: Bitcoin, Tether, Etherum, & DOT just to name a few.

Discovering which one to get into it is not necessarily dependent on their popularity (like Bitcoin), but their trends. These coins are constantly rising and falling in value as they stabilize and find their feet in the market.

There are other factors to consider in addition to their trends, as the trends are not representative of a currencies success. Consider the interest rates, which is the amount of money companies of crypto are willing to pay you for your investments. You can see the interest rates for various cryptocurrencies at HodlRate.com.

Crypto is a new and exciting form of investments that will rocket ship your income if you choose the right kinds! Don’t be afraid to explore investing in a few, because society as a whole is getting more interested in these investments. It’s hard to say which one will do the best and which will crumble under the increasing attention.