Nov 28, 2025
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Amazon founder and executive chairman Jeff Bezos sounded the alarm 3 years ago.
In an interview with CNN, Bezos said that the economy “does not look good right now.”
“Things are slowing down. You're seeing layoffs in many many sectors of the economy.”
While his comments may have been a few years old, the current market volatility suggests that you might want to tighten up your budget.
“If you're an individual considering purchasing a big-screen TV, you might want to wait, hold onto your money, and see what transpires,” the billionaire recommends. “The same is true with a new automobile, refrigerator, or whatever else. Just remove some risk from the equation.”
That’s not a good sign for investors.
But not all investments are created equal. Some have the potential to hold up even if the economy slips into a recession. Let’s look at a few examples.
Real estate
It may seem counterintuitive to spotlight real estate right now. Still, for investors looking to quietly recession-proof their portfolios as interest rates trend downward, the asset class is getting renewed attention.
And new platforms are making it easier for everyone to access this opportunity.
For instance, Arrived,is an online platform, backed by world class investors like Jeff Bezos, where you can invest in shares of rental homes and vacation rentals without taking on the responsibilities of property management.
You can invest anywhere from $100 to approximately $20,000 per property, making real estate investing available to a wider range of investors. As of September 2025, Arrived already has paid out more than $17 million in dividends to 862,000 registered investors.
To get started, simply browse through their selection of vetted properties, each picked for their potential appreciation and income generation. Once you choose a property, you can start investing with as little as $100, potentially earning quarterly dividends.
100% Funded
The Vanzant
Single Family Residential
$415K
Invested
1,294
Investors
100% Funded
The Smokey
Vacation Rental
$983K
Invested
1,748
Investors
100% Funded
The SuiteSpot
Vacation Rental
$1.2M
Invested
1,672
Investors
These are a few examples of properties from Arrived. Check out the full list of single family residential homes and vacation rentals currently available.
Once you’re an investor with Arrived, you’ll gain access to their newly launched secondary market, where investors can buy and sell shares of individual rental and vacation rental properties directly on the platform.
This allows you to buy into properties you may have missed at the initial offering or sell shares before a property reaches the end of its hold period.
With access to more than 400 properties in 60 cities, this new way to trade real estate opens up flexibility and opportunities to gain access to more properties every quarter.
Another option is home equity, which has helped Americans build wealth for generations — but unless you bought property yourself, getting in was tough.
With interest rates drifting lower and homeowners more open to tapping their equity, investors now have a way to participate without taking on a mortgage.
Homeshares gives accredited investors access to this overlooked segment: the billions in locked-in equity sitting in owner-occupied homes. Instead of purchasing properties, investors participate through a portfolio of Home Equity Agreements (HEAs) — allowing homeowners to unlock cash with no monthly payments, while investors share in future appreciation.
The result is exposure to a large, under-tapped market across top U.S. cities, without the headaches of being a landlord or the risk of being overleveraged.
HEAs come with built-in protection: they usually cover 25 to 35% of a home’s value in a lien secured position, which helps shield your investment if the market dips. And unlike traditional real estate, HEAs are also typically resilient to interest rate shifts, offering attractive, risk-adjusted returns even during economic uncertainty.
With diversified portfolios of high-quality homes and target returns of 14% to 17%, Homeshares offers a practical way to gain exposure to a growing corner of the real estate market.
Gold
Gold is considered a natural hedge because, unlike paper currency, it can’t be printed at will by central banks. That scarcity is part of what gives the metal its enduring appeal.
It’s also widely viewed as the ultimate safe-haven asset. Gold isn’t tied to any single country, currency or economy and when financial markets turn volatile or geopolitical tensions flare, investors often flock to it — driving prices higher.
That’s where a gold IRA can be especially valuable. It gives you a tax-advantaged way to fold this inflation-resistant, recession-tested asset directly into your retirement strategy.
If you open a gold IRA with Goldco, for instance, you can get free shipping and access to a library of retirement resources, with a minimum purchase of $10,000.
Plus, the company will match up to 10% of qualified purchases in free silver.
Instead of watching market swings erode the value of a traditional portfolio, a gold IRA can help stabilize long-term returns, diversify across economic cycles and give you a tangible store of value when uncertainty rises.
If you’re curious whether this is the right investment to diversify your portfolio, you can download Goldco’s free gold and silver information guide today.
An unexpected asset class
“It’s likely there’ll be a 10 to 20% drawdown in equity markets sometime in the next 12 to 24 months.”
That’s according to Goldman Sachs CEO David Solomon, speaking at the Global Financial Leaders' Investment Summit in November 2025.
Meanwhile, the Shiller P/E has just soared past 40x, a level last seen in 1999, hinting that the decade ahead may bring below-average returns for those tied to the S&P 500.
With these warning signs, diversification isn’t just smart — it’s essential. Billionaires like Bezos and Gates take a different approach. They invest in an asset that outpaced the S&P 500 by 15% from 1995 to 2025, and with near-zero correlation to the market: post-war and contemporary art.
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.
Until recently, this world was off-limits. Now, with Masterworks, you can buy fractional shares in multimillion-dollar works by icons like Banksy, Picasso and Basquiat. While art can be illiquid and typically requires a long-term hold, it offers unique portfolio diversification.
Masterworks has sold 25 artworks so far, yielding net annualized returns like 14.6%, 17.6%, and 17.8%.*
Moneywise readers can get priority access to diversify with art: Skip the waitlist here
*Past performance is not indicative of future returns. Investing involves risk. See important Regulation A disclosures at Masterworks.com/cd
Hold on to that cash
When the market shifts, investors of all stripes look for reliable and safe savings vehicles to cushion their nest egg. Wealthfront’s high-yield cash account is designed for those savers.
With a Wealthfront Cash account, you could earn up to 4.15% APY on your uninvested cash for your first three months (0.50% APY boost on top of the 3.50% base variable APY as of November 7, 2025) provided by program banks. That’s over nine times the national deposit savings rate, according to the FDIC’s October report.
Plus, Wealthfront charges no account fees. With full access to your money at all times, Wealthfront also offers fast (and free) transfers to eligible accounts 24/7.
Jing is an investment reporter for MoneyWise. He is an avid advocate of investing for passive income. Despite the ups and downs he’s been through with the markets, Jing believes that you can generate a steadily increasing income stream by investing in high quality companies.
