The late Charlie Munger said ‘you only have to get rich once’ but warned making that first $100K is a hurdle

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Don’t miss The stock market is the right place to start Don’t forget about alternative assets What to read next

For investors who are looking to get rich, or at least improve their financial situation, having an investing guru with the wisdom and experience (and positive track record) to follow can be crucial.

For millions of investors, Charlie Munger and his partner Warren Buffett (CEO of Berkshire Hathaway) are those gurus.

The late billionaire investor Charlie Munger left behind a plethora of wisdom for the average investor to follow.

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In one of his final interviews, he appeared on the Acquired podcast and gave one of one of his greatest nuggets of wisdom: “You only have to get rich once.”

While he also noted that earning the first $100k is the hardest, there are a couple investing insights to keep in mind as you work to get over that hurdle.

The stock market is the right place to start

Many investors’ retirement accounts are focused on stocks, with young investors typically exposed to growth stocks in target dated funds, and older investors with greater bond exposure.

While 401K programs and similar offerings from employers are a great start, many financial experts believe that millennials will need between $3 million and $4 million to retire comfortably, given current inflation rates.

For those looking to grow their wealth on the stock market, finding a great brokerage platform is the first step in setting up an investment account for retirement savings.

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

For example, platforms like Moby — founded by former hedge fund analysts — provide stock research and insights tailored for everyday investors.

Over the past four years, Moby’s stock picks have outperformed the S&P 500 by an average of 11.95%, helping more than 5 million users identify promising investments before they take off. Plus, they offer a 30-day money back guarantee.

Don’t forget about alternative assets

While the stock market is a natural place to invest one’s capital, there are plenty of other assets that act as inflation hedges and are worth your consideration. Charlie Munger is among the investors who have been known to spread their wealth over various asset classes, and in different markets.

A quick look at his holdings in his other company, Daily Journal, shows some exposure to foreign assets. And he’s talked about diversification as well for his own personal journey (so long as it’s not “deworseification”), something you may want to consider.

For instance, you may not think of fine art as the most the accessible alternative asset. Not everyone has the time — or cash — to sit an auction and wave a paddle for the highest bid.

However fine art tends to be a solid investment over time as its value remains generally more stable compared to market fluctuations.

If you want to dip your toes into the art world, Masterworks is a top platform for retail and accredited investors to invest in pieces of fine art that may otherwise be unattainable, due to the astronomical prices these pieces are sell at.

Masterworks gives you the ability to invest in fractional shares of blue-chip contemporary art — that means paintings by artists like Banksy, Picasso and Basquiat — allowing investors to own a truly diversified portfolio of alternative assets.

Once you join the Masterworks community of more than 280,000 members, you can tap into a whole lot of data and insights and use them to guide you in choosing the art you want to put your money into.

See important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd

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Real estate is another well-known tool for diversifying your portfolio.

New investing platforms are making it easier than ever to tap into the real estate market.

For accredited investors, Homeshares gives access to the $36 trillion U.S. home equity market, which has historically been the exclusive playground of institutional investors.

With a minimum investment of $25,000, investors can gain direct exposure to hundreds of owner-occupied homes in top U.S. cities through their U.S. Home Equity Fund — without the headaches of buying, owning or managing property.

With risk-adjusted internal returns ranging from 12% to 18%, this approach provides an effective, hands-off way to invest in owner-occupied residential properties across regional markets.

If you’re not an accredited investor, crowdfunding platforms like Arrived allow you to enter the real estate market for as little as $100.

Arrived offers you access to shares of SEC-qualified investments in rental homes and vacation rentals, curated and vetted for their appreciation and income potential.

Backed by world-class investors like Jeff Bezos, Arrived makes it easy to fit these properties into your investment portfolio regardless of your income level. Their flexible investment amounts and simplified process allows accredited and non-accredited investors to take advantage of this inflation-hedging asset class without any extra work on your part.

Another great inflation hedge over time has been gold. While you can always buy gold coins directly from a bouillon dealer, opening up a Gold IRA may be a better long-term option. This individual retirement account allows you to invest in gold and benefit from the tax advantages of an IRA.

One way to invest in gold that also provides significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with the help of Thor Metals.

Gold IRAs allow investors to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, thereby combining the tax advantages of an IRA with the protective benefits of investing in gold, making it an attractive option for those looking to potentially hedge their retirement funds against economic uncertainties.

To learn more, you can get a free information guide that includes details on how to get up to $20,000 in free metals on qualifying purchases.

“The beauty of it is: you only have to get rich once. You don’t have to climb this mountain four times. You just have to do it once,” said Munger. A proven savings vehicles can help you ride out market uncertainty and make sure your retirement nest egg is secure.