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Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi wasn’t having it when CNN’s Jake Tapper pressed her about insider trading allegations.
During an appearance on “The Lead with Jake Tapper,” the host asked what she thought of President Donald Trump’s accusation that she got rich “by having inside information” and “making a fortune with her husband” in stock trading (1).
“That’s ridiculous,” Pelosi retorted without hesitation. “In fact, I very much support the stop [of] the trading of members of Congress — not that I think anybody is doing anything wrong. If they are, they are prosecuted and they go to jail. But because of the confidence it instills in the American people, don‘t worry about this. But I have no concern about the obvious investments that have been made over time. I‘m not into it. My husband is, but it isn‘t anything to do with anything insider.”
Since the interview, Pelosi has voiced her support for the Honest Act — initially dubbed the Preventing Elected Leaders from Owning Securities and Investments (PELOSI) Act, a not-so-subtle nod to the highly scrutinized speaker.
The New York Times reported in December that there has never been any concrete evidence that Pelosi has profited from her insider position, in spite of the fact that her husband’s wealth has skyrocketed during her time in office (2). However, a recent paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research analyzed politicians’ stock trades and found that congressional leaders outperformed other lawmakers in investment gains by as much as 47% (3). This is due in part to their influence on and knowledge of legislation related to the market.
While some politicians — and hedge funds — may try to beat the market, legendary investor Warren Buffett has long advised everyday Americans to take a simpler route.
“In my view, for most people, the best thing to do is own the S&P 500 index fund,” he famously stated (4).
This straightforward approach gives investors exposure to 500 of America’s largest companies across various industries, providing diversified exposure without the need for constant monitoring or active trading.
The beauty of this approach is its accessibility — anyone, regardless of wealth, can take advantage of it. Even small amounts can grow over time with tools like Acorns, a popular app that automatically invests your spare change.
Signing up for Acorns takes just minutes: link your cards and Acorns will round up each purchase to the nearest dollar, investing the difference — your spare change — into a diversified portfolio. With Acorns, you can invest in an S&P 500 ETF with as little as $5 — and, if you sign up today, Acorns will add a $20 bonus to help you begin your investment journey.
While many wealthy Americans hold stocks in their portfolios, there’s another asset that has quietly built fortunes for generations: real estate.
Like stocks, real estate has its cycles, but it doesn’t rely on a booming market to generate returns. Even in a downturn, high-quality, essential real estate can continue to produce passive income through rent. In other words, you don’t have to wait for prices to rise to see a payoff — the asset itself can work for you.
Even the commander-in-chief has praised that quality. In 2011 (5), Trump told Steve Forbes, “I just notice that when you have that right piece of property, whatever it might be, including location, it tends to work well in good times and in bad times.”
Buffett has echoed that sentiment, often pointing to real estate as a prime example of a productive, income-generating asset. In 2022 (6), he stated that if someone offered him “1% of all the apartment houses in the country” for $25 billion, he would “write you a check.”
Of course, you don’t need billions — or even to buy an entire property — to benefit from real estate investing. Crowdfunding platforms like Arrived offer an easier way to get exposure to this income-generating asset class.
The process is simple: browse a curated selection of homes that have been vetted for their appreciation and income potential. Once you find a property you like, select the number of shares you’d like to purchase and then sit back as you start receiving any positive rental income distributions from your investment.
If diversifying into multifamily rentals appeals to you, you could consider investing with Lightstone DIRECT, a new investing platform from the Lightstone Group, one of the largest private real estate companies in the country with over 25,000 multifamily units in its portfolio.
Since they eliminate intermediaries —brokers and crowdfunding middlemen — accredited investors with a minimum investment of $100,000 can gain direct access to institutional-quality multifamily opportunities. This streamlined model can help reduce fees while enhancing transparency and control.
And with Lightstone DIRECT, you invest in single-asset multifamily deals alongside Lightstone — a true partner — as Lightstone puts at least 20% of its own capital into every offering. All of Lightstone’s investment opportunities undergo a rigorous, multi-stage review before being approved by Lightstone’s Principals, including Founder David Lichtenstein.
How it works is simple: Just sign up with your email, and you can schedule a call with a capital formation expert to assess your investment opportunities. From here, all you have to do is verify your details to begin investing.
Founded in 1986, Lightstone has a proven track record of delivering strong risk-adjusted returns across market cycles with a 27.5% historical net IRR and 2.49x historical net equity multiple on realized investments since 2004. All told, Lightstone has $12 billion in assets under management — including in industrial and commercial real estate.
As such, even if multifamily rentals don’t appeal to you, Lightstone could still serve you well as an investment vehicle for other real estate verticals.
In 1999, the S&P 500 peaked, and it took 14 long years to fully recover.
Today, Goldman Sachs is forecasting just 3% annual returns from 2024 to 2034. It sounds bleak but not surprising: the S&P is trading at its highest price-to-earnings ratio since the dot-com boom. Vanguard isn’t far off, projecting around 5%.
In fact, nearly everything feels priced near all-time highs — equities, gold, crypto, you name it.
That’s why billionaires have long carved out a slice of their portfolios in an asset class with low correlation to the market and strong rebound potential: post-war and contemporary art.
It may sound surprising, but more than 70,000 investors have followed suit since 2019 — through Masterworks. Now you can own fractional shares of works by Banksy, Basquiat, Picasso, and more.
Masterworks has sold 25 artworks so far, yielding net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*
