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Moneywise
Updated Feb 13, 2026
Why do millionaires get richer while middle-class Americans tend to stay the same?
A viral TikTok by “Taylor Money” suggests it’s not buying bigger houses or fancier cars—it’s using your money to make more money. The millionaire mindset comes down to one word: expansion.
“Only when you start to see money for what it actually is, a method of expansion… a vehicle for your own expansion, then the opportunities to make more money expand, start presenting themselves for you to take,” Taylor explained in the December clip that has garnered almost 3 million views.
Taylor encourages using money to grow wealth through investments with higher yields.
Inspired by Taylor’s advice? Here’s how to put that income-generation mindset into action.
Fundrise Flagship Fund
Buy real estate through Fundrise's $1 billion private fund
Fundrise Venture Capital
Get early access to privately-held AI companies starting at $10
Real estate
“Middle-class people use money as a way to build credit so that they can buy bigger houses, bigger boats, bigger cars, whatever,” Taylor said. “That’s not the function of money.”
If buying a home isn’t the right move for you, there are still ways to invest in real estate to generate passive income and diversify your portfolio.
For instance, the Fundrise Flagship Fund¹ is a $1 billion private real estate fund that lets you invest in an expertly crafted strategy without needing hundreds of thousands of dollars. You don’t need to be an accredited investor, and you can get started with as little as $10.
With 4,700+ single-family homes and 2,500+ residential units owned by the Fundrise Flagship Fund, you get exposure to institutional-style scale and diversification.
Industrial
215 Interchange
Las Vegas, NV
Build-for-rent
Pine Ridge
Fountain Inn, SC
Build-for-rent
Omnia
Richmond Hill, GA
These are a few examples of properties powering the Fundrise Flagship Fund. For a full list of the Fundrise Flagship Fund's portfolio properties see the Flagship Fund website.
After you place your first investment, the Fundrise Flagship Fund will work to find and add new assets to your portfolio over time and send you transparent updates along the way.
It only takes a few minutes to sign up now and become a real estate investor today.
Fundrise Flagship Fund
Buy real estate through Fundrise's $1 billion private fund
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.
Featured
Residential
Columbus, OH
Featured
Industrial
Tobyhanna, PA
Featured
Residential
Beverly Hills, MI
These are a few examples of past properties or acquisitions from Lightstone. Explore more investment opportunities when you register with Lightstone DIRECT.
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.
Get started today with Lightstone DIRECT and invest alongside experienced professionals with skin in the game.
Invest in the stock market
Investing in the stock market is one of the most effective ways to build long‑term wealth, allowing your money to grow through compounding returns and the rising value of strong companies.
The S&P 500 has delivered a strong multi‑year run, with a cumulative 5‑year return of approximately 82.25% as of December 2025.
Warren Buffett has long advocated for low-cost S&P 500 index funds as a smart investment choice for most people, famously advising investors to “keep buying it through thick and thin—and especially through thin.”
You don’t need to be a millionaire to begin investing. Platforms like Acorns make it easy by rounding up your everyday purchases and automatically investing the spare change, helping you build wealth little by little without even noticing.
For example, if you grab a $6.30 smoothie on your way to work, Acorns rounds the purchase up to $7.00 and automatically invests the extra 70 cents. Those small contributions add up fast — just $2.50 a day in round-ups can grow to roughly $900 a year, helping you build wealth in the background without changing how you spend.
And if you sign up now and set up a recurring deposit, you can receive a $20 bonus investment to jumpstart your investing journey.
Another way to invest consistently in individual stocks or the S&P 500 index fund is through a self-directed trading account with SoFi Invest.
There are no commissions, no account minimums, and you can even receive up to $1,000 in free stock when you open and fund a new account. It’s a simple, low-cost way to build your investment foundation — with minimal effort.
SoFi Invest also keeps you informed with real-time market news, sector performance and key trading data — giving you the tools to invest confidently.
Invest outside the stock market
Stock market investing is a powerful way to build wealth, but it shouldn’t be your only strategy. Expanding beyond stocks into other investments can help diversify risk, increase stability, and create a stronger, more resilient financial plan.
Within that mix, gold can play a particularly steadying role. As a physical asset that isn’t tied to corporate performance, gold can offer meaningful protection against inflation and economic volatility. The price of gold has surged more than 1,400% between January 2000 and December 2025.
One way to invest in gold while enjoying significant tax advantages is to open a gold IRA with Priority Gold.
Gold IRAs allow you to hold physical gold or gold-related assets within a retirement account, combining the tax benefits of an IRA with the wealth-protecting power of gold. This makes them an attractive option for anyone looking to safeguard their retirement savings against economic uncertainty.
If you want to convert an existing IRA into a Gold IRA, Priority Gold offers a 100% free rollover, plus free shipping and storage for up to five years. Qualifying purchases may also receive up to $10,000 in free silver.
To learn more about how Priority Gold can help you build long-term wealth, download their free 2026 Gold Investor Bundle.
When it comes to investing outside the stock market, you might wonder where to turn. Gold is hitting all-time highs, and real estate remains highly sensitive to interest rates.
So what’s left? One asset that consistently appears in billionaire portfolios — but is often overlooked by everyday investors — is art.
For centuries, wealthy collectors have set aside a portion of their wealth for scarce, globally valued assets. Blue-chip [artworks by masters like Basquiat, Picasso, and Banksy] are traded internationally, independent of the stock market, and aren’t directly affected by corporate earnings or interest rate swings.
In the past, you had to be ultra-wealthy to invest in art, considering you needed to have the millions it takes to buy a painting at an auction.
But Masterworks has now changed that. This investment platform has enabled more investors to access this prized asset.
For example, Gustav Klimt’s famous portrait of Elisabeth Lederer recently sold for a record-breaking $236.4 million, making it the most expensive work of modern art ever sold at an auction.
Sold
Joan Mitchell
17.8% annualized net return
Sold
Yayoi Kusama
17.6% annualized net return
Sold
George Condo
21.5% annualized net return
These are a few examples of sold artworks from Masterworks. For a full list of currently available art, visit Masterworks' Price Database.
Instead of buying a single painting like that for millions of dollars, you can now invest in fractional shares of blue-chip paintings by renowned artists. All you have to do is select how many shares you want to buy, and Masterworks will take care of the rest.
New offerings often sell out fast, but as a Moneywise reader you can skip their waitlist here.
Masterworks has already distributed back $65+ million in total proceeds (including principal) to investors across their 25 exits.
Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. See important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd
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