By any measure — the amount of steel and concrete, the trillions of dollars of capital to be invested, or its length and breadth — China’s One Belt, One Road infrastructure and real estate initiative is epic. To get a sense of the scale of the projects, a series of maps and infographics is available at Visual Capitalist’s website that detail the initiative’s geographic bounds, the infrastructure needs of the countries the projects span, as well as the capital needs by infrastructure sector.

Over the years, Jon Stein dreamed of becoming a journalist, a doctor, an art dealer, a rock star and even president of the United States. “I don’t think I’d make a great president,” he says, “but I do think I would be interested in ways to make people’s lives better.” Long before Stein reached age 35, the legal minimum for being elected president, he found his calling — right after he learned some lessons about the private wealth market. After opening several brokerage accounts to invest his money, he was chagrined to find mutual fund companies’ persistent advice was to buy their funds, while brokers beseeched him to trade, trade, trade.

Challenges faced by the nontraded REIT industry over the past market cycle have caused investors and advisers to pause. The structure has so far proven difficult to manage effectively and problematic to transition to the traded markets, not to mention its complexities are tough to understand. Advisers were left explaining and apologizing to clients when liquidity events returned less than their distribution rates in the nontraded REIT and business development company (BDC) markets.

Cities across the United States are experiencing a housing disconnect. Even as new construction starts have added up to a multifamily building boom, a housing crunch remains in many U.S. cities, with many people unable to find or afford a place to live. A large segment of the apartment-seeking population does not qualify for subsidized housing, but also does not make enough for the market-rate rentals in its cities. The need for inexpensive housing, within close proximity to job centers, that caters to this working population of renters — and the opportunity for investors — is clear, and it is aptly referred to as workforce housing.

Boosting efficiency and cutting costs — the oil industry’s favorite buzzwords during the latest downturn — continue to be the key talking points following the crash in oil prices.

Listed real estate stock prices are changing moment by moment, reflecting investors’ perceptions of the value of public real estate companies and updating constantly as new information is absorbed by the market. This leads to much higher pricing volatility than private real estate, and perhaps a tendency to overreact on both the upside and the downside. But this also means listed real estate stocks can be a leading indicator for private real estate values, as private market transactions are slower and private market index information is at least a quarter out of date when published.

Coal and gas are facing a mounting threat to their position in the world’s electricity-generation mix as a result of the spectacular reductions in costs not only for wind and solar technologies, but also for batteries, according to research from Bloomberg New Energy Finance.

Water investing is a perennial area of interest for investors, particularly during water crises and when experts release forecasts of a future with increased water scarcity. To date, however, opportunities for investors have been limited.

So many of the biggest global and national events are unpredictable. The Soviet Union imploded and the Iron Curtain fell without U.S. intelligence services having a clue it was imminent. Digital technologies were unleashed and decimated dozens of industries, including travel agencies, physical music sales, brick-and-mortar retailers, and print media. Social attitudes and laws pertaining to gay marriage and legalized marijuana changed within a matter of years.

Investment clubs — groups of like-minded investors who pool capital to acquire stakes in property or business interests — have been around for decades. These days, those clubs are proving to have deep pockets and a big appetite for real assets.

What people in and around the private investment business are saying about issues ranging from venture capital and Bitcoin bubbles to inflation and U.S. housing policy