Alternative Financial Services

Alternative Investment Benefits

Alternative investments are designed to offer investors the potential greater return and diversification  when compared to  traditional asset classes like the stock and bond  markets.  Ideally, alternative investments should not directly correlate with traditional public markets and provide less volatility than stocks in general. Until recently, alternative investments were generally only accessible to large institutions, pensions and endowments but there was limited opportunity for traditional accredited investors. Companies like Stratos Capital Income Fund are transforming alternative investments into an accessible market.

Alternative Investment Risks

Like any investment, a certain degree of uncertainty and risk is involved. Unconventional investments tend to offer less liquidity than do traditional investments. Alternative investing can be associated with higher fees in return for potentially higher returns. It is a high risk, high reward game. In addition to liquidity constraints, transparency can also be limited when investing in many alternative asset classes. However, the Stratos Capital Income Fund has solved for much of the liquidity and transparency concerns of investors when investing in Merchant Cash Advances. Stratos Capital Income Fund allows for more consistency providing 12-15% yearly with quarterly distributions. 

Types of Alternative Investing

Some alternative forms of investment include real estate, real estate crowdfunding, fine art, peer-to-peer lending, cryptocurrency, commodities, social trading platforms, business lending, inflation-protected securities, international equities, fixed annuities, stable-value funds, emerging markets, hedge funds, venture capital, and a multitude of other platforms.

Merchant Cash Advance

Merchant cash advances are lump sums provided to businesses that do not qualify for traditional small business financing. In exchange for upfront capital, businesses promise a percentage of their future sales to the merchant cash advance funding firm. Depending on the contract, payments occur weekly or daily and they vary with the number of sales for that period of time. This is short-term financing and can be expected to be paid back within 6 to 12 months. Investing in a merchant cash advance can be a high yield low-risk opportunity with the right underwriting funding firms.

How Does This Alternative Investment Work?

Most investors who syndicate in the merchant cash advance arena are only pairing with 1 funder, which leaves them exposed to that funders own business risk and the risk of the merchants that funder underwrites. This type of merchant cash advance investment leaves investors with virtually no control in the types of businesses or term of duration they wish to invest in. The funder ultimately makes those decisions. The blind risk associated with this venture turns investors off and rightly so. Stratos Capital Income Fund is shaking up the industry. Investors place capital in Stratos Capital Income Fund, which deflects risk in a big way.  Stratos Capital Income Fund has partnered with quite a few MCA funding companies where fund members cash will be placed.

Why Invest in an MCA?

The merchant cash advance industry has been gaining traction in recent years as merchants across the country continue to need working capital and traditional banks cannot meet their needs. Tech companies like PayPal and Shopify are even embedding advances into their core business. Unfortunately, until now, accredited investors could not access the merchant cash advance return streams. The gaining popularity of this type of small-business financing is good news for both investors and business owners. Investors can mitigate the risk they take on to a higher degree because the pool of small businesses keeps expanding, so there will be more businesses to choose from and more businesses to spread the investment across. More businesses will have access to merchant cash advance financing because of the available funds from the increasing amount of investors on the platform. If you are an accredited investor looking to diversify your portfolio with an emerging, high yield, and low-risk investment, you’ve come to the right place.