Yieldstreet vs. Fundrise

As markets undergo high volatility, more and more investors are turning to alternative investments to help safeguard their retirement funds. Some examples of alternative investment classes include real estate, artwork and precious metals. 

If you’re searching for a platform to make alternative investments a little more streamlined, consider opening an account with Yieldstreet or Fundrise. But how exactly do these platforms differ — and which is the better option for you?

Our guide to Yieldstreet vs. Fundrise will compare the 2 platforms in some of the areas most important to investors to help you decide where to open an account. 

Compare Fees

Both Yieldstreet and Fundrise are crowdfunding investing platforms that offer a wide range of individual investment opportunities. This means that the investments or portfolio that you select might influence the amount that you pay in fees.

Fundrise charges about 1% annually in fees for most users. And 0.15% of this fee goes towards advisory services, which fund platform benefits like:

• Ongoing project and real estate management
• Dividend performance reporting, reinvesting and distribution
• Tax management
• Customer support and relations

In addition to this advisory service fee, you’ll also pay a 0.85% annual management fee, which goes towards operating expenses for the hundreds of properties that Fundrise has under management. Together, these fees equal about $10 annually for every $1,000 you invest. 

Fundrise also reserves the right to apply a development fee and liquidation fee to individual investment opportunities as needed. These are both single-event fees and are only applied as investments are created and sold.

Yieldstreet’s fees vary depending on the individual asset you invest in. You’ll pay an annual fee between 0% and 4% on each of your Yieldstreet investments depending on the individual asset that you invest in. You can view each asset’s fee structure by visiting its explanation page. Yieldstreet doesn’t charge a fee to join its platform, but it does charge a flat-rate annual investment fee for all investors on its platform, which is deducted from your 1st interest distribution after you select an investment.

Fundrise has a minimum investment of $10 for the Starter Fund, $1,000 for the Basic Fund, $5,000 for the Core Fund, $10,000 for the Advanced Fund and $100,000 for the Premium Fund. Meanwhile, Yieldstreet has dropped its minimum to $2,500 for the Prism fund, but the minimums are generally $10,000.

The difference between the portfolios is the type of investments you may access.  

From here, Fundrise allows all classes of investors to select between 3 investment portfolios: an income-driven option that focuses on creating a passive stream of income, a growth-oriented portfolio that offers assets with lower dividends but higher growth potential and a mixed portfolio that balances the 2. While this allows a certain level of flexibility when it comes to your investments, you can’t choose individual real estate investments like you can when you work through Yieldstreet. 

Fundrise allows all levels of investors to choose between a few basic types of portfolio allocations. However, investors aren’t able to individually select properties that they’re interested in investing.  

Better Platform: Tie. The best platform in this area will vary depending on your minimum investment size and the level of control that you want to have over your investments. 

If you’re okay with higher fees in exchange for more control over the assets you invest in, Yieldstreet might be right for you. If you want to focus on lower fees or you have less than $10,000 to invest, Fundrise might be the best option for you. 

Compare Mobile App

Both Yieldstreet and Fundrise offer comprehensive mobile apps that allow you to explore investment opportunities and manage your money on the go. Some of the features that Yieldstreet and Fundrise’s mobile options share include:

• Easy Portfolio Visualization. Both Yieldstreet and Fundrise make it easy to visualize your investments with a smooth, intuitive interface.  
• High-level Security Features. Both apps provide investors with bank-level security encryption and tools like 2-factor authentication to ensure that only you have access to your investments.
• Investment Explorations. You can explore new investment opportunities through Yieldstreet directly through the application. Fundrise also provides you with updates on your investments and a news feed that you can use to learn more about upcoming dividends and real estate market movements.

Both the Fundrise app and the Yieldstreet app are available as a free download on both Apple and Android platforms.

Better Platform: Tie. Both Fundrise and Yieldstreet have taken steps to offer a streamlined, simple app investing experience. Explore investments, track your portfolio and enable security factors through both free app offerings. 

If you value a mobile investing platform, both Fundrise and Yieldstreet can be excellent options. 

Compare Customer Support

Yieldstreet offers 2 avenues that you can use to contact its customer service team:

• By phone. To contact Yieldstreet by phone, call 844-943-5378. Yieldstreet doesn’t currently offer a defined list of customer service hours on its website.
• By email. Yieldstreet offers 2 methods you can use to contact its customer service team by email. Contact methods are divided by investment opportunities to help you receive an answer as quickly as possible. If you have a question about 1 of the investments currently listed on the Yieldstreet platform, send a message to investments@yieldstreet.com. 

If you have a general question, you can contact YieldStreet directly through the website chat option. Log into your profile, and click on the “Contact Us” tab through your home screen on your profile’s main page.

Fundrise only offers 1 method that you can use to contact its customer service team:

• By email. To send a message to Fundrise’s customer service team, fill out an online contact form.

Fundrise also offers a small Help Center that contains a set of articles that include answers to some of the platform’s most common questions. Examples of categories in the Help Center include “account management” and “taxes.”

Better Platform: Yieldstreet. With 2 methods to contact customer service, you can choose to send the platform’s team a specialized email pertaining to a single investment or you can give them a call. 

In the future, we’d love to see both Fundrise and Yieldstreet add a specific customer service method for people with hearing limitations. 

Compare Ease of Use

Both Yieldstreet and Fundrise make it exceptionally easy to sign up for an account. Yieldstreet offers a very straightforward signup process — simply enter a bit of personal information, confirm your email address and start comparing investment opportunities. Most users will be able to create their accounts in as little as a few minutes.  

The registration process at Fundrise is a bit more involved. However, it’s still simpler than most competitors. Before you can browse documentation for specific investments included with each portfolio option, you’ll need to enter some information on your income and submit your Social Security number. 

Some investors may feel this is a huge investment, but the minimum deposit is only $10, making it a low-risk, high-reward proposition.

Yieldstreet’s advantages continue after opening an account. Simply click on an investment opportunity to learn more about its fees, tax implications, expenses and more. Though Fundrise does offer due diligence information on the items in your portfolio, you cannot browse specific investment opportunities before you’ve opened an account and begun investing.

Better Platform: Yieldstreet. Though both platforms offer easy and intuitive signups, you need to jump through a few more hoops when you invest through Fundrise. Yieldstreet also allows you to explore investments before you invest, while Fundrise doesn’t offer much beyond basic information for non-account holders. 

Compare Accounts and Features

The main difference between account features included with Yieldstreet and Fundrise is the type of assets that you can invest in. Yieldstreet offers investors access to a limited range of investments in a variety of industries. Depending on the currently open investment opportunities, you could add artwork, real estate, notes, loans and more to your portfolio. Limited spaces are available for each investment, which means that your options will be limited only to investments currently not 100% funded.

Though Fundrise only offers real estate investments, its choice of investments makes it simple to instantly diversify your portfolio. As soon as you invest, Fundrise will allocate your submitted funds between multiple classes and types of real estate investments. You can even set a savings goal to track your progress towards homeownership, retirement or another long-term investing goal. The downside of this simplicity is that non-accredited investors cannot choose their individual investments.

Better Platform: Fundrise. With a wider range of investment choices and instant diversification, Fundrise will be a more comprehensive option for most investors. However, there’s something to be said for Yieldstreet and how it could serve certain types of investors.

Who Wins?

It’s difficult to say which is a better investing platform in Yieldstreet vs. Fundrise because each alternative investment sphere offers its own unique benefits. If you’re an accredited investor or you want access to a wider class of investment opportunities, Yieldstreet might be right for you. 

If you’re searching for a set-it-and-forget-it approach to investing and lower fees, you’ll likely find lots to love with Fundrise. Both platforms offer a comprehensive mobile experience and responsive customer service teams to help make your investing journey go a little smoother. Make the choice that’s best for your situation. In fact, you may need to move your funds from one to the other as your portfolio grows, or you may want to open accounts on both platforms because they are different enough that you could see diverse and powerful results.

Benzinga Partner

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