Yieldstreet Review 2023

Who is Yieldstreet suitable for?

In my opinion. Yieldstreet is a good fit for investors who are looking to spice up their investment portfolio and want to expand their holdings beyond stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. With current market uncertainties. many investors may want to diversify their holdings and spread risk.

Yieldstreet’s investment offerings. such as art, commercial real estate, and marine finance, among others, can provide investors with higher returns when compared to traditional assets. However, higher rewards come with higher risks.

Who is Yieldstreet?

Yieldstreet is a financial technology company that provides alternative investments to individual investors. The company was founded by Milind Mehere and Michael Weisz in 2015. The company calls New York City home, but it is a global concern with offices in Brazil, Greece, and Malta.

Yieldstreet’s mission is to democratize access to institutional-quality investments, previously reserved for high-net-worth individuals and institutional investors. The company offers customers a streamlined investment process and low minimum investment amounts for institutional-quality investments such as art, real estate, and more.

Who owns Yieldstreet?

YieldStreet, Inc. is a privately held financial technology company; the ownership structure of which is not publicly disclosed.

Yieldstreet is funded by 17 investors and has secured over $725 million in investment, with Monroe Capital and Transform Capital as the most recent investors.

Yieldstreet accounts

Yieldstreet offers several different types of accounts to suit different investment goals and preferences. Here are some of the main account types available on Yieldstreet:

Individual Account: This is a standard investment account that allows you to invest in a variety of asset classes offered on the Yieldstreet platform.

Joint Account: This is an investment account that can be opened by two or more individuals. The joint account holders can invest in the same asset classes as with the individual account.

Retirement Account: Yieldstreet offers several types of retirement accounts with all the associated tax perks, including Traditional IRA, Roth IRA, SEP IRA, and SIMPLE IRA.

Business Account: This account type is designed for businesses looking to diversify their holdings. Business accounts can be opened as a sole proprietorship, partnership, LLC, corporation, or trust.

Trust Account: Yieldstreet also offers trust accounts for those who want to invest on behalf of a trust.

Custodial Account: This account type lets a parent or guardian invest in alternative assets on behalf of a minor. The account is held in the minor’s name, but is managed by a custodian until the minor reaches adulthood.

It’s important to note that the availability of these account types may vary depending on your location and other factors.

Yieldstreet products

Before my Yieldstreet review looks at the company’s product offerings, I feel that I should warn you that a lot of these have a minimum investment anywhere between $5,000 and $25,000, depending on asset class. Also, it should be noted that most of these are only available to accredited investors. The only offering from Yieldstreet that is available to non accredited investors is the Yieldstreet Prism Fund.

Yieldstreet Prism Fund

The Prism fund is Yieldstreet’s flagship offering and also its most affordable, with a minimum investment of $2,500. This fund is always open to US investors (except residents of Nebraska and North Dakota) and you don’t have to be an accredited investor to buy into this fund. The Prism Fund is a fixed-income portfolio with multi-asset class funds including art, real estate, and commercial and consumer finance.

Investors have no say on the management of this fund, but with its good mix of multiple asset classes, investors can expect an annual yield of 8%. This fund pays quarterly distributions and investors are free to do as they wish with these payments. If investors decide to reinvest these payments into the Prism fund then they can do so without paying a transaction fee.

The Prism Fund is the only investment option for non accredited investors, other products and alternative investments are only available to accredited investors, including:

Real Estate

YieldStreet offers a range of real estate investments, including commercial, residential, and multifamily properties. These investments provide investors with the opportunity to earn passive income through rental yields and capital appreciation.

Legal Finance

YieldStreet also offers investments in legal finance, which involves financing legal claims in exchange for a share of the settlement or judgement. These investments can provide high returns but are also considered high-risk.

Art Finance

YieldStreet offers investments in fine art. This involves purchasing art assets and leasing them out to generate income. These investments are typically low-risk and can provide consistent returns over the long-term.

Marine Finance

YieldStreet also offers investments in marine finance. This involves providing loans to boat owners and operators. These investments can provide predictable returns, but are also considered relatively high-risk.

Crypto Finance

The Enhanced Crypto Fund is for investors who are thinking of investing in cryptocurrency. The fund is carefully selected to ensure robust and diversified exposure to a range of crypto assets that YieldStreet has identified as offering strong growth.

Short-Term Notes

YieldStreet has regular issues of short-term note offerings, successfully launching over 92 such notes to date. These traditionally range from six to nine-month offerings and are popular with investors who have liquidity needs and, at the same time, would like to support the growth of future opportunities on the Yieldstreet platform.

The exact name of these investments and their yields, and conditions, etc. do vary as products reach maturity and change, but overall, YieldStreet provides a range of alternative investment opportunities that boast high returns to investors. These can range from transportation, venture capital, and even private credit, but, regardless of the exact nature of these individual deals, your investment should deliver strong returns. Of course, with higher returns come higher risks, however, as Yieldstreet periodically launches new offerings these risk levels do vary.

The biggest strength of these product offerings is the relatively low buy-ins. These buy-ins may seem high when compared to stocks and shares, but as a way of gaining access to alternative investments, Yieldstreet is one of the best value propositions for accredited investors and, even if you are not an accredited investor, the Prism Fund is an extremely appealing value proposition with its strong track record of robust returns.

The fees charged by Yieldstreet vary depending on the specific investment opportunity, underlying asset class, and exact nature of these individual deals, but the below information should help you understand its pricing structure.

Management fees

Generally, Yieldstreet charges an annual management fee that ranges from 1% to 3% per investment and is deducted from the net returns of the account.

Origination fees

Yieldstreet charges an origination fee for each investment opportunity, which is typically a percentage of the investment amount. This fee covers the cost of due diligence, legal work, and other expenses associated with creating the investment.

Performance fees

Yieldstreet may also charge performance fees on certain investments, which are typically a percentage of the profits earned from the investment. These fees are only charged if the investment performs well and earns a profit.

Custodial fees

Yieldstreet partners with a third-party custodian to hold and manage investor funds. This custodian may charge fees for their services, which are typically a percentage of the invested amount.

For this reason, I advise potential investors to carefully review the exact fees associated with each investment opportunity prior to deciding on whether to invest. Fortunately, Yieldstreet is fully transparent when it comes to its costs and pricing. All the information regarding fees and expenses associated with each investment opportunity is clearly stated and in plain sight.

In conclusion, whilst it may be fair to say that the management fees charged by Yieldstreet are a little higher when compared to other brokers, I feel that they are not excessive. Especially when you consider that this annual management fee is for a carefully selected product from a well-regarded company with a good track record of delivering investor returns and beating the stock market.

Yieldstreet Auto Invest

N.B. Yieldstreet Auto Invest is only available to accredited investors who have completed the account verification process, and meet Yieldstreet’s investment requirements.

Yieldstreet’s Auto Invest feature is designed to make investing in alternative assets more efficient and convenient for investors. With Auto Invest, investors can create a customized investment strategy that automatically invests their funds in pre-selected funds based on their own preselected criteria.

Here are some key features of Yieldstreet’s Auto Invest:

• Customizable Investment Criteria

Investors can set their investment criteria, including preferred asset classes, investment amounts, and risk preferences.

• Automatic Investment

Once an investor’s criteria are set, Auto Invest will automatically invest their funds in pre-selected investment opportunities that meet their criteria.

• Diversification

Auto Invest allows investors to diversify by investing in multiple opportunities across different asset classes.

• Control and Flexibility

Investors can adjust their investment criteria or pause their Auto Invest at any time, as well as save time and effort.

Yieldstreet Wallet

The Yieldstreet Wallet is an in-house digital wallet and savings account designed to help customers manage their funds and track their investments from one place. Savings held in the account are held by the Evolve Bank & Trust, and as such are FDIC-insured. With my Yieldstreet Wallet I was able to take advantage of the following features:

• Secure Storage

The Wallet provides secure storage for investors’ funds and investments, with two-factor authentication and encryption.

• Fund Management

Investors can easily manage their funds in the Yieldstreet Wallet, including adding or withdrawing funds.

• Investment Tracking

Investors can track their investments in real-time, with detailed information on each investment opportunity, including returns, maturity dates, and other relevant information.

• Transaction History

Investors can view their transaction history and account statements within the Yieldstreet Wallet.

• Integration with Auto Invest

Yieldstreet Wallet is integrated with Yieldstreet’s Auto Invest feature, allowing investors to manage their investments and investment criteria in one place.

• Yieldstreet IRA Integration

Tailor-made for investors with a Yieldstreet IRA. With this useful feature, I was able to manage my IRA account using the Yieldstreet Wallet.

The process is simple; just follow the below steps:

• Go to the Yieldstreet website and click “Sign Up”—the button is located on the top right corner of the homepage.
• Enter your name, your email address, and create a password. You can also sign up using your Google or LinkedIn account.
• Verify your identity by providing personal information, photographic ID, and a selfie.
• Investors, who want to try the whole range of alternative asset classes available on Yieldstreet and not just the Prism Fund, will need to provide proof that they are accredited investors.

Once all these steps have been completed, it is simply a process of adding funds to your account and you can start investing.

Deposit funds

Once your account is verified and accredited, you can add funds to your account using a bank transfer or wire transfer. To add funds to your Yieldstreet account, follow these steps:

1. Log in to your Yieldstreet account.
2. Click the “Add Funds” button, located in the top right corner of the page.
3. Select the product that you wish to fund.
4. Choose the funding source you want to use, such as a bank transfer or credit card.
5. Enter the amount you want to invest and follow the instructions to complete the transaction.

Withdraw funds

The process for withdrawing funds from your account is just as easy. To withdraw money simply follow the below steps:

1. Log in to your Yieldstreet account.
2. Click on the “Withdraw Funds” button, the top right corner of the page.
3. Select the investment from which you wish to withdraw funds.
4. Choose the withdrawal method you want to use, such as bank transfer or check.
5. Enter the amount you want to withdraw and follow the instructions to complete the transaction.

I contacted the customer support team for the sake of this Yieldstreet review and have to say that I was perfectly satisfied with their help.

Though I will caution that the wait times on the phone were a bit excessive, perhaps this was due to the fact that they had just launched new alternative asset deals, which may have overwhelmed the team. Also, it should be noted that on Trustpilot, a number of customers have expressed frustration over the help they received regarding withdrawal and transfer issues. These issues, however, are not unique to Yieldstreet and I should mention that most of them relate to customer frustration with compliance and due diligence requirements on transfers.

Yieldstreet Research

To help ensure its customers are able to make informed investment decisions, Yieldstreet offers a few research tools to both accredited investors and non accredited investors. I found these to be especially useful as the world of alternative investment and alternative assets is one most traders are not familiar with. For this reason, I think these tools, though perhaps a little limited, will prove invaluable.

As part of its investment offering, Yieldstreet provides detailed information about each investment opportunity, including the investment type, target return, investment term, and risk profile. This is for all of Yieldstreet’s offerings and is a great way to quickly evaluate the opportunity.

For customers on the go, Yieldstreet’s mobile app provides investors with real-time updates on their investment portfolio, including performance data and investment details. Investors can also access Yieldstreet’s research materials through the app.

Yieldstreet also hosts webinars on various investment topics. These are designed to help investors learn more about different investment types, alternative assets, market trends, and strategies for investing. There is a strong online community on the Yieldstreet Forum sharing investment opportunities and insights with Yieldstreet’s investment team, and other investors.

Yieldstreet Education

I have to say that the selection of educational tools available on the Yieldstreet platform is somewhat limited, but, once again, I think they are still pretty useful as they do a good job of educating investors—you could say it’s a case of quality over quantity.

The Yieldstreet Academy offers a series of educational videos and articles that provide an introduction to alternative investments and cover topics such as commercial real estate, art, hedge funds, and litigation finance. The Academy is extremely useful and I think most investors will find these resources worth their time.

Yieldstreet Safety

Yieldstreet is serious when it comes to the security of its investors and their data. For this reason, all customer account data is fully encrypted and accounts feature mandatory two-factor authentication for maximum security. Yieldstreet is a registered US based company and is fully compliant with all US legal requirements.

When it comes to product offerings, whilst no-one can guarantee a return on your investment, you should know that Yieldstreet only offers curated private market offerings that have the company’s stringent due-diligence.

Yieldstreet useful information

How to contact customer support

• Phone: You can call Yieldstreet’s customer support team on 1-844-943-5378 from Monday to Friday between 9 am and 6 pm Eastern Time.
• Email: You can email Yieldstreet’s customer support team at suppor[email protected]. They usually respond within one business day.
• Chat: You can chat with a Yieldstreet customer support representative directly from the Yieldstreet website or app.
• FAQ: Yieldstreet also has a comprehensive FAQ section on their website.
• Social media: Yieldstreet has accounts on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.