Abby McCarthy, vice president of investment affairs and investor outreach, Nareit

To ensure a sound financial future, investors should look to get rich slowly by investing in a diversified portfolio made up of the fundamental asset classes — stocks, bonds and commercial real estate. REITs provide investors with a straightforward, low-cost and transparent means of investing in the commercial real estate asset class and have historically provided investors with dividend-based income, competitive market performance, inflation protection and liquidity.

Louis Reynolds, CEO, Synergistic Exchange Solutions

Creating wealth is simple and has never changed. What also has not changed about creating wealth is it’s not easy and most people do not know or have the characteristics to achieve wealth. There are two ways to become financially wealthy.  One is doable by most, the other is not: 1) Have discipline. 2) Have great courage, great wisdom, or great luck. The first is simple and fortunately the most common. Spend less than you make. Take the difference and own things that create income and appreciate. Generally, that means real estate and companies. The second is rare and fraught with great risk. Have great courage to do what few are doing and invest where few will invest. Develop great wisdom to see and navigate the future. Have great luck. It happens, but it is hard to plan on. But when it does happen, maximize it. The greatest thing to know about wealth is, it’s never been about what you have, it’s about who you are.

Kirk Montgomery, partner, Practus, LLP, and Alliance 160 Consulting Group

In today’s investment environment the surest way to build (and not lose) a substantial portfolio gain is to create an individual risk-adjusted total investment strategy and to stay disciplined enough to stick with it. As tempting as it may be, don’t swing for the fences, trying to hit only home runs with new IPOs or PE funds, and don’t liquidate everything at the first sign of a market drop. Today’s strategic investors diversify portfolio allocations to include very healthy portions to non-market correlated investments, the largest being various real estate asset types, with the most popular being multifamily, residential, student housing, self-storage and ESG-focused properties. Lastly, with the increasing number of private placement asset types, now more than ever, thorough due diligence is absolutely critical. It may be possible to get rich investing in something you don’t understand, but I guess I’ll never know.

Dan Kryzanowski, advisory partner, BV Capital

While the en vogue — and possibly wildly correct — response to this question is crypto, there is still significant upside on residential real estate in desirable cities, states and neighborhoods. Families, retirees and young professionals are all willing to pay much more for housing to gain access to the best school districts and lower taxes, coupled with an extra bedroom, in-home office, or backyard. Investors with dry powder and tolerance to “buy high, sell higher” will benefit from the post-COVID mindset that housing merits a greater percentage of the average American's budget.