Employer-sponsored 401(k) plans can be a great place to start. But they might not be enough, given that the retirement rule of thumb is to have at least 10 times your annual income for your golden years (4).

With a salary of $70,000, that means at least $700,000.

If you were to use the 4% rule for retirement, which states you can safely draw 4% out of your retirement account per year after adjusting for inflation, that amounts to just $28,000 for your first year — before accounting for Social Security benefits.

Meanwhile, Munger often recommended consistency over aggression when it comes to investing. Playing the long game — and starting now — is essential for reaching that first $100,000.

As such, it could pay to look for steady wealth-building vehicles, aligned with your risk tolerance over a 30- or 40-year investment horizon. But the first step is finding the right brokerage platform to set up your investment account.

Once you’ve chosen your retirement account provider, you’ll need to select your investments.

Read More: I’m almost 50 years old and don’t have retirement savings. Is it too late?

When it comes to investing, work smart — not hard

Stock picking is notoriously risky, but there are ways to make safer bets and benefit from the wisdom of experts.

For example, Moby offers expert research and recommendations to help you identify strong, long-term investments backed by advice from former hedge fund analysts.

In four years, and across almost 400 stock picks, their recommendations have beaten the S&P 500 by almost 12% on average. They also offer a 30-day money-back guarantee.

Moby’s team spends hundreds of hours sifting through financial news and data to provide you with stock and crypto reports delivered straight to you. Their research keeps you up-to-the-minute on market shifts and can help you reduce the guesswork behind choosing stocks and ETFs.

Plus, their reports are easy to understand for beginners, so you can become a smarter investor in just five minutes.

Don’t forget about alternative assets

While investing in companies is a natural place to put your capital, there are plenty of other inflation-hedging assets that are worthy of consideration. Munger was among those known to spread their wealth over distinct asset classes and across markets.

For instance, Munger’s other company, Daily Journal, has exposure to foreign markets, according to form 13F holdings data from Valuesider (5).

And in 2023, Munger told the Financial Times that one of his top money-making investments was in a real estate venture that owns apartment buildings in California and New Jersey (6).

But you don’t have to be a billionaire to invest in this kind of real estate.

Invest in real estate shares

While rental properties have long been a proven source of steady, passive income for high-net-worth investors like Munger, the time, effort and costs involved in managing and maintaining multiple properties have prevented many others from investing.

So unless you’re a hedge fund titan or an oil baron, you’ve been shut out of one of the most profitable corners of the market.

That’s where mogul comes in. This real estate investment platform offers fractional ownership in blue-chip rental properties, which gives investors monthly rental income, real-time appreciation and tax benefits — without the need for a hefty down payment or 3 a.m. tenant calls.

Founded by former Goldman Sachs real estate investors, the mogul team handpicks the top 1% of single-family rental homes nationwide for you. Simply put, you can invest in institutional quality offerings for a fraction of the usual cost.

Each property undergoes a vetting process, requiring a minimum 12% return even in downside scenarios. Across the board, the platform features an average annual IRR of 18.8%. Their cash-on-cash yields, meanwhile, average between 10% and 12% annually. Offerings often sell out in under three hours, with investments typically ranging between $15,000 and $40,000 per property.

Every investment is secured by real assets, not dependent on the platform’s viability. Each property is held in a standalone Propco LLC, so investors own the property — not the platform. Blockchain-based fractionalization adds a layer of safety, ensuring a permanent, verifiable record of each stake.

Getting started is a quick and easy process. You can sign up for an account and then browse available properties. Once you verify your information with their team, you can invest like a mogul in just a few clicks.

Arrived also offers a great way to tap into the real estate market.

Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived allows you to invest in shares of vacation rentals, earning a passive income stream without the extra work that comes with being a landlord of your own rental property.

To get started, simply browse through their selection of vetted properties, each picked for its potential appreciation and income generation. Once you choose a property, you can start investing with as little as $100, potentially earning monthly dividends.

Of course, alternative assets like real estate aren’t the only way to diversify your portfolio and potentially accelerate your path toward your first $100,000 — there are other asset classes worth considering.

Diversify like the ultrarich

One such asset has posted positive returns over the last 20 years, highlighting strong long-term investment potential. And with its moderate relationship with traditional markets, this alternative investment could help protect against inflation, especially amid recent economic uncertainty surrounding the war.

It’s no wonder why this asset has long been favored by the ultrawealthy as a resilient and lucrative addition to their portfolios. With an estimated value of over $2.5 trillion — projected to reach nearly $3.5 trillion by 2030 — it represents a massive asset class, according to Deloitte (7).

You might be surprised to find out this asset is fine art.

Until recently, this world was off-limits. Now, with Masterworks, you can buy fractional shares in multimillion-dollar works by icons like Banksy, Picasso and Basquiat. While art can be illiquid and typically requires a long-term hold, it offers unique portfolio diversification.

Masterworks has sold 27 artworks so far, yielding net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6% and 17.8%.*

They recently acquired a work by Barbara Peyton and offered investment at $1.16M. Just 17 days later, Masterworks accepted a buyer’s offer of $1.5M — netting 22.9% back to investors.

Moneywise readers can get priority access to diversify with art: Skip the waitlist here.

*Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. See important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd.

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Article sources

We rely only on vetted sources and credible third-party reporting. For details, see our editorial ethics and guidelines.

Acquired (1); CNBC (2); The Money Guy Show (3); Fidelity (4); Valuesider (5); Financial Times (6); Deloitte (7)

This article provides information only and should not be construed as advice. It is provided without warranty of any kind.