Aug 22, 2023
American comedian and political commentator Jon Stewart has called out corruption on Wall Street — drawing comparisons between U.S. financial markets and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
“When I look at the intricate workings of Wall Street, it doesn’t look that much different from the s— that Sam Bankman-Fried pulled — in that the legalized corruption that we have in this country looks very similar,” Stewart said on an episode of his podcast The Problem with Jon Stewart.
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Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency exchange chief, is set to go on trial Oct. 3 to face fraud and conspiracy charges. The allegations against him, which have yet to be proven in court, include making illegal political campaign contributions with the aim of influencing crypto regulation in Washington.
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Stewart pointed to “congressional stock trades” and “conflict of interest on Wall Street” as two obvious examples of corruption in the U.S. financial and political spheres — and his guest, American businessman and investor Mark Cuban, wholeheartedly agreed.
Together, they discussed how Bankman-Fried apparently “became a player” on the central financial stage not just because of the rise of FTX and its affiliate Alameda Research, but “because he had millions of dollars to give to the political system.”
“Money buys power — end of story,” Cuban said. “In the case of Elon [Musk], he buys the platform [Twitter, now known as X]. In the case of Sam Bankman-Fried, he buys the politicians.”
The problem, according to Cuban, is the “lack of transparency” at the heart of the financial and political systems. He said: “We all try to shortcut things through trusts, through brands … where you find opacity and lack of transparency, you’re going to find fraud at one level or another.”
He added: “Now crypto will get its act together, but we don’t have the equivalent in government and politics. Everybody is still corrupted.”
If you’d prefer to keep your money away from Wall Street, here are three different approaches to investing your money and build your wealth without needing to rely on the stock market.
Invest in real estate
Real estate is often considered a good long-term investment due to property appreciation — plus, you build equity as you pay down the mortgage and there are opportunities to generate passive income through rents.
But today, you need a huge pile of cash to cover the extensive costs of homeownership, which include: a down payment, property taxes, legal fees, elevated mortgage rates, maintenance and the list goes on.
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If you don’t quite have the capital to buy physical property, you may want to consider investing in a residential real estate investment trust. These are publicly-traded companies that collect rent from tenants and pass that rent to shareholders in the form of regular dividend payments.
You may also want to consider an online crowdfunding platform. These allow everyday investors to pool their money to purchase property (or a share of property) as a group.
If you don’t want to make investment decisions on your own, new online platforms can help you invest in diversified real estate portfolios that will maximize your returns while keeping your fees low.
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Buy gold
If you’re looking for a safe haven to park your money, you may want to consider buying gold, which has long been touted as a very stable investment.
The most direct way to invest in gold is to buy it in its physical form, whether that be bars, coins or jewelry.
With the help of any number of investing apps, you can also invest by purchasing shares of gold mining companies on the stock market — or even gold exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for those who are looking for more diverse exposure.
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Another option is to open a gold IRA, an individual retirement account that allows you to invest in precious metals in physical forms, such as coins, instead of stocks, mutual funds and other traditional investments.
Be alternative
There are other alternative assets that could possibly bring returns in excess of inflation and other mainstream investment classes.
For instance, fine wine assets have enjoyed consistent double-digit growth over the past 10 years.
You can invest in wine by purchasing individual bottles or by using a wine investing platform that does all the legwork for you, including choosing, storing and insuring your prized bottles.
Likewise, fine art is another alternative investment. While the price of a masterpiece by the likes of Andy Warhol, Banksy or Pablo Picasso could amount to something close to homeownership, that doesn’t mean you can’t invest.
Today, there are online art investment platforms where you can get yourself a piece of the multi-billion dollar industry without a lot of the drawbacks of investing in a physical piece of art.
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Bethan Moorcraft is a reporter for Moneywise with experience in news editing and business reporting across international markets.
