Bitcoin and Ethereum made people rich overnight-but they also wiped out fortunes just as fast. If you’re tired of watching your portfolio swing like a pendulum, you’re not alone. In 2024, over 60% of retail crypto investors lost money after buying at peak prices. The truth? Crypto isn’t an investment. It’s a gamble with fancy tech wrapped around it. So what’s a better investment than crypto? The answer isn’t another coin. It’s real things that have been building wealth for centuries: land, businesses, stocks, and income-generating assets.

Real Estate: The Original Wealth Builder

When you buy a house or apartment, you’re not just paying for square footage. You’re buying a physical asset that people always need. In Auckland, rental yields on modest two-bedroom homes have held steady at 4.5% to 6% over the last five years. That’s cash in your pocket every month, even if the market flatlines. Unlike crypto, where value depends on hype, real estate has intrinsic value: shelter, location, and demand.

And here’s the kicker-you don’t need to buy a whole house. You can invest in a $50,000 share of a property through platforms like BrickX or Yieldstreet. These let you own a fraction of a rental property with no maintenance headaches. Over ten years, a $100,000 investment in a diversified property fund in New Zealand returned an average of 8.3% annually, including rent and appreciation. That’s more than double the average crypto return over the same period, and with far less risk.

Stocks in Solid Companies: Own a Piece of Real Business

Buying shares in Apple, Microsoft, or even a local Kiwi company like Fisher & Paykel isn’t gambling. It’s owning part of a business that makes products people use every day. These companies pay dividends-actual cash payments to shareholders. In 2024, the S&P/NZX 50 Index returned 11.2% including dividends. Compare that to Solana, which dropped 72% in 2023 after a 1,200% surge the year before.

Here’s how to think about it: if you bought $10,000 worth of shares in the NZX 50 index fund in 2015, you’d have $27,500 today. If you’d put that same $10,000 into Bitcoin in 2015? You’d have $1.2 million-but only if you held through every crash, panic, and exchange collapse. Most people don’t. They buy when everyone’s excited and sell when it’s scary. That’s not investing. That’s emotional roulette.

Small Business Ownership: Build Something That Outlives You

People overlook this, but owning a small business is one of the most powerful ways to build wealth. Think about a local café, a plumbing service, or a mobile car wash. These don’t make headlines, but they generate steady income. In New Zealand, over 90% of small businesses survive their first year. After five years, half are still going-and many are worth more than their initial investment.

Why? Because they solve real problems. A plumber doesn’t rely on global sentiment. They fix leaks. A bakery feeds people. These businesses don’t crash because a tweet says they’re overvalued. They grow because customers keep coming back. And if you run it yourself, you’re not just an investor-you’re the engine. That’s power.

Index Funds: The Silent Winner

If you don’t want to pick stocks or manage property, index funds are your quiet superpower. An index fund buys all the companies in a market-like the S&P 500 or the NZX 50-and holds them forever. It doesn’t try to beat the market. It just rides it.

Over the last 20 years, the S&P 500 returned 9.4% annually on average. Even after the 2008 crash, the 2020 pandemic, and inflation spikes, it kept climbing. Crypto? No asset class has done that. Bitcoin has had five 80%+ drawdowns since 2011. Each time, people swore it was the end. Each time, it bounced back-only to crash again.

Index funds cost less than 0.2% in fees. You set up automatic monthly contributions, forget about it, and let compounding do the work. In 2025, a 30-year-old investing $300 a month into an index fund will have over $600,000 by 65. That’s not luck. That’s math.

Gold and Precious Metals: The Hedge That Never Sleeps

Gold doesn’t pay dividends. It doesn’t grow. But it doesn’t disappear either. During the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin didn’t exist. Gold rose 25%. In 2020, when markets crashed, gold hit a record $2,070 an ounce. In 2024, with global uncertainty rising, it hit $2,300.

People buy gold not to get rich fast, but to protect what they’ve already built. It’s insurance. You don’t need to buy bars-just invest in a low-cost gold ETF like NZX:GLD. A 5% allocation in your portfolio can smooth out the worst of crypto’s crashes. And unlike crypto wallets, you don’t need to worry about private keys or hacks.

Why Crypto Fails as a Long-Term Investment

Crypto’s biggest flaw? It has no cash flow. A stock gives you dividends. A rental property gives you rent. A business gives you profit. Crypto gives you… hope. And hope isn’t a business model.

There’s no way to value Bitcoin. No earnings. No assets. No dividends. Just a number on a screen that changes based on how many people are willing to pay more for it tomorrow. That’s speculation, not investing.

And the risks? Real. In 2022, FTX collapsed. Over $8 billion vanished overnight. Customers lost everything. No government stepped in. No insurance paid out. Compare that to the New Zealand Stock Exchange, where companies are audited, regulated, and held accountable. Your money is safer there.

What to Do Right Now

If you’re sitting on crypto you bought at the top, don’t panic. But don’t double down either. Here’s a simple plan:

1. Keep 10% of your portfolio in crypto if you want the thrill-but treat it like entertainment money, not retirement savings.
2. Start putting 50% of your monthly investment budget into index funds. Use a platform like Sharesies or SuperLife.
3. Save for a rental property. Even a small share counts. Use a mortgage calculator to see what you can afford.
4. Open a dividend reinvestment plan (DRIP) in a stable company like Contact Energy or ANZ Bank.
5. Read one book on investing: The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. It’s short, clear, and free online.

You don’t need to be a genius. You just need to be consistent. The people who get rich aren’t the ones who caught the next coin. They’re the ones who kept buying real things-year after year-while everyone else chased noise.

Final Thought: Wealth Is Built, Not Won

Crypto promises to make you rich fast. Real investments make you rich slow-and keep you rich for life. One gives you a lottery ticket. The other gives you a steady paycheck, growing equity, and peace of mind.

Which one do you want?