Yieldstreet is a crowdfunding platform offering real estate and other alternative investments.
Yieldstreet; Alyssa Powell/Insider
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Bottom line: You may like Yieldstreet if you’re a high-income or high-net-worth investor, but you don’t have six figures to invest with private equity firms or hedge funds. It could be a particularly good fit if you are willing to take on more risk for a higher potential return.
Overall rating
FeatureInsider rating (out of 5)Fees3.00Investment selection5.00Access4.58Ethics3.00Customer service4.75Overall score4.07
Is Yieldstreet right for you?
Yieldstreet is best for high-net-worth individuals looking to invest beyond what they can do with a typical brokerage. It is opening up to investors who don’t meet the SEC accreditation minimums, but it’s still offering speculative investment opportunities that carry significant risk.
One big drawback of the Yieldstreet Prism Fund is the fees. They’re not horrible, but they’re still 1.5% per year, which is a decent chunk of your return. If this could go down to a flat 1%, it would be more in line with competitors. Another downside is some history of losses. The diversified portfolio of the Prism Fund should help offset the risk of losses, but it’s still possible.
Yieldstreet vs. Fundrise
Yieldstreet
Fundrise
Min. Investment
$500
Min. Investment
$10
Fees
0% to 2.5%; 1.5% for Prism Fund
Fees
1%
Investment choices
Multi-asset class funds, alternative investments, and short-term notes
Investment choices
Electronic real estate investment trusts (REITs), electronic real estate funds, and Fundrise IPOs
YieldstreetFundrise
Yieldstreet is a great option for those looking to invest assets like fine art, real estate, and mult-asset class funds. Fundrise, however, best suits individuals who are solely focused on real estate investments (e.g., REITs and real estate funds).
Minimum requirements are significantly lower at Fundrise, and Fundrise generally has lower fees.
Yieldstreet vs. CrowdStreet
Yieldstreet
Crowdstreet
Min. Investment
$500
Min. Investment
$25,000
Fees
0% to 2.5%; 1.5% for Prism Fund
Fees
1% – 2.75%
Investment choices
Multi-asset class funds, alternative investments, and short-term notes
Investment choices
Single-sponsor real estate funds, CrowdStreet funds, individual deals, and managed portfolios
YieldstreetCrowdstreet
Yieldstreet and CrowdStreet both offer a wide range of alternative investments. But you’ll need more to get started at CrowdStreet. While Yieldstreet has a $500 minimum, CrowdStreet requires at least $25,000 for newcomers.
In addition, CrowdStreet only accepts accredited investors. Investors of all income levels can use Yieldstreet.
Ways to invest with Yieldstreet
Direct investments: accredited investors only
Accredited investors can make direct investments in alternatives assets with their Yieldstreet account. It offers a vast suite of open offerings. For instance, its SFR Diversified Fund II, a fund of nearly 200 single family rental properties, is a great option for real estate investors with at least $15,000 to invest. It’s open offerings also consist of income, growth, and balanced opportunities.
Past options include real estate investments in locations across the US, projects relating to oil tankers and large cargo shipping vessels, and a portfolio of post-war and pop art. Most investments show a positive return, but Yieldstreet is clear that some investments have not worked out well in the past.
Like any other alternative investment, it’s important to understand the risks and decide if it makes sense for your investment goals.
Prism Fund: open to any investor
If you want to take a more diverse, general approach to your alternative investments, the Prism Fund could be a better fit. This fund is newly open to any investor in the US (except residents of Nebraska and North Dakota). You don’t have to be an accredited investor to buy into this fund.
While Prism Fund works like a mutual fund in many ways, there are some important differences. Your investment is not highly liquid. That means you can’t just sell your shares if you need the cash for something else. If you invest in this fund, it’s important to understand that your funds are tied up for a number of years outside of planned quarterly distributions at a 7% annualized rate and limited distribution windows.
The fund charges a 1.0% annual fee, which is roughly in line with many actively managed stock funds, as well as an administration fee of up to 0.5%. There is a $500 minimum investment.
This is a closed-end fund that plans to shut down in March 2024. At that point, all assets will be sold and profits will be distributed to investors, who may also have an opportunity to roll their proceeds into a future Prism Fund offering.
Yieldstreet Wallet: FDIC-insured savings
Yieldstreet Wallet is a savings account held at Evolve Bank & Trust. This is an FDIC-insured savings account, but as of this writing, the interest rate is very, very low. Yieldstreet Wallet accounts are typically used to fund investments through Yieldstreet, including IRAs. More on that in the next section.
IRA accounts
If you have a Yieldstreet Wallet, you are eligible for a self-directed IRA through Yieldstreet that comes with “checkbook control.” That means you can buy and sell a range of alternative assets, including an investment in the Prism Fund, through a Yieldstreet IRA.
Depending on your annual deposit rate, you’ll pay $299 or $399 per year for this type of account. Those with balances between $0 and $100,000 will pay $299 per year, while users who hold $100,001 and above will pay $399 per year.
Is Yieldstreet trustworthy?
Yieldstreet has received an F rating with the Better Business Bureau. The BBB uses a grade range of A+ to F when evaluating companies, so this is the lowest grade a company can receive. The bureau says it assigned this rating because Yieldstreet has failed to respond to and resolve several complaints.
However, the BBB also says on its website that ratings don’t guarantee whether a company will be reliable or perform well. For this reason, it’s important to do additional research when determining whether or not to use an investment app.
In 2020, Yieldstreet picked up a class-action lawsuit after multiple investors reported that they lost over $100 million in alternative investment products. The investment app claimed that it wasn’t at fault.
BBB data shows that Yieldstreet closed more than 30 customer complaints in the last 12 months.
Yieldstreet — Frequently asked questions (FAQ)
What is Yieldstreet?
Yieldstreet is an online investing platform that crowdfunds loans. It offers a suite of alternative investment products that includes real estate, shipping vessels, legal settlements, art, and financial instruments.
Until recently, Yieldstreet was only available to accredited investors (typically people with a lot of cash to invest), but the Yieldstreet Prism Fund, a managed fund of alternative assets, opened up to investors of all backgrounds on August 17.
Is Yieldstreet Wallet FDIC insured?
Yes. The Yieldstreet Wallet account’s custodian is Evolve Bank & Trust, an FDIC insured bank. Any funds you deposit into the Yieldstreet Wallet are thereby insured up to $250,000.
Is Yieldstreet accredited?
No. Yieldstreet serves both accredited and non-accredited investors. However, you’ll need to be an accredited investor for some of its offerings.
Related terms
REIT: These are companies that own multiple income-producing real estate assets. They pool investor money together to fund the real estate projects, and investors receive dividends in return.Accredited investor: This is an individual who either has a net worth of $1 million, or an annual income greater than $200,000 for the previous two years ($300,000 for joint filers).SDIRA: Unlike regular IRAs, these allow you to build wealth with alternative investments like real estate, cryptocurrencies, precious metals, and other assets.