Crossing the six-figure asset barrier is a significant milestone for American savers. It’s also fairly rare.

Data from the Federal Reserve’s Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) as reported by USAFacts shows that roughly one in four Americans had more than $100,000 saved up for retirement.¹

Having $100,000 in cash to deploy was even rarer: just 12% of households across all age groups had a six-figure checking or savings account balance.¹

This proportion is roughly on par with the 12.6% of U.S. individuals and 18.5% of American households who qualify as accredited investors.² You can meet the U.S. Security and Exchange Commission's (SEC’s) definition of this term under Regulation D if you check one or both financial criteria.³

First, you are an accredited investor if you have an individual or household net worth of $1 million or more, excluding the value of your primary residence. You also qualify as an accredited investor if you earned $200,000 or more ($300,000 or more in combination with your spouse) in the last two consecutive years, and reasonably expect to do the same this year.³

What if you’re an accredited investor with $100,000 to invest?

At this level, you can allocate to a wide range of investments. First, as an accredited investor, you have the opportunity to invest in asset classes not available to non-accredited investors—including alternatives such as private real estate, private equity, and more. In addition, $100,000 is enough to meet the minimum investment requirements for comparatively more diversified investment solutions, such as some private real estate funds. Below, we take a closer look at some of these potential opportunities.

The private real estate market is massive

There are roughly 200 exchange-listed real estate investment trusts (REITs) in the United States.⁴ This means that anyone—accredited or not—can invest in publicly-traded real estate assets.

But the public market is just a small fraction of the $24 trillion American real estate market. In fact, 94% of all commercial real estate in the United States by value is privately-owned—whether held in private real estate funds or owned outright by institutions, companies, or individuals.⁵

Data source: Why private real estate. Franklin Templeton. December 2024.

That means that many specialized real estate assets—like attainable workforce housing in Sunbelt states, real estate-backed loans to commercial sponsors, or preferred equity investments in ground-up multifamily projects—may be entirely private.

In other words, allocating only to public REITs means you risk concentrating your real estate exposure to a small subset of the investable universe. For a truly diversified portfolio, you may want to consider adding private real estate to your portfolio. Doing so can potentially help you diversify away from publicly-traded REITs, stocks, and bonds—all at the same time.

Which private real estate investments are most diversified?

Of course, there are a couple of private real estate investments that you can make with $100,000.

Real estate syndications, which allow you to invest on a deal-by-deal basis, typically impose minimums beginning at $10,000 or more. On the other hand, real estate funds—which allow you to gain exposure to a large number of deals simultaneously—often feature minimums ranging from $50,000 to $250,000 or more.⁶

Because your six-figure investment means you meet the minimums for both syndications and funds, the question becomes: which is more diversified?

Here, the answer is clear: private real estate funds are usually more diversified than syndications. That’s because funds provide investors with exposure to a basket of deals. This spreads risk across multiple assets, meaning that you may remain protected even if several individual deals underperform.

Real estate syndications, by contrast, are most often concentrated in a single deal. This relative lack of diversification means that performance of your investment hinges upon the success or failure of one deal and one deal only.

Ultimately, having $100,000 to invest places you in a select group with access to opportunities beyond the public markets. For accredited investors seeking meaningful diversification, the vast private real estate market offers a compelling frontier that public REITs alone cannot provide. With a six-figure sum, you can move beyond single-deal investments and access professionally-managed private real estate funds that allow you to efficiently deploy your capital across a broad portfolio of assets in a single, strategic move.

A single investment in a DLP Capital-sponsored fund can spread your risk across dozens of multifamily assets and potentially help you achieve a diversified portfolio.

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FAQs

What is the best thing to invest 100k in?

There’s no single “best” investment to invest $100,000 in. What’s right for you will depend on your risk tolerance, liquidity needs, time horizon, and income requirements. For example, if you’re interested in passive real estate investing, want the potential to earn passive income, and want to gain exposure to many properties at once, you can consider investing in a private real estate fund.