Saira Rahman of Fundrise - The World of Alternatives and Why They’re Even More Important Now

Oct 22, 2024

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Today, Rusty and Robyn are joined by Saira Rahman, Vice President of New Investor Initiatives at Fundrise. Saira is a board advisor and speaker with 17 years of experience in strategy, payments, modeling and forecasting, financial reporting and interest rates. She believes in effective leadership through cross-functional collaboration, clear communication, people management and robust teamwork. Saira has been featured in the Wall Street Journal and Yahoo News advocating for and implementing family benefits in the workplace. She is also Co-host of Girls Just Wanna Have Funds, a weekly podcast deconstructing the intimidating world of finance with Megan McShane.

Key Takeaways

[03:13] - Learn more about Saira’s professional background and what drew her to the investing world.
[05:26] - Learn more about Fundrise and their focus on Alternative Investments.
[06:20] - How would Saira define Alternatives exactly? Also, what types of Alts are there?
[07:07] - Why should investors consider Alternatives in addition to traditional asset classes, like stocks and bonds, in their investment portfolios?
[09:32] - Why are Alternatives seeing a spike in popularity right now? Also, has the interest in Alternatives been impacted by The Fed's decision to cut rates recently?
[11:00] - How has Fundrise evolved since its inception and what upcoming developments is Saira most excited about?
[12:24] - How are changing demographics influencing the Alternative space in general and the types of investment opportunities that Fundrise offers?
[14:44] - How is the current economic environment impacting Real Estate investments for retail investors?
[16:13] - What role does company culture play in driving innovation and growth within Fundrise?
[16:52] - What is the most important lesson Saira has learned from her diverse career in Financial Services?
[18:00] - What is the best piece of advice that Saira has received and what advice would she give to women entering the Financial Services industry?
[20:54] - What is Saira’s favorite investment idea currently?
[22:36] - Who are some of the colleagues and mentors that Saira is especially thankful for?

Quotes

[07:09] - “If I’m an RIA, and I don’t have Alts in my portfolio, I’m missing out on some of the biggest Alpha currently available in the market…We’re currently in the AI wave, where all of the alpha is in being able to make money on both private and public companies. But, if you look at the public companies, NVIDIA is the only company available to you, in terms of AI…and if you want to get access to the rest of the absolutely incredible AI companies, you have to go into Venture Capital…so if you are not investing in private markets [and] you’re not investing in VC, you are doing a disservice to your investors because they are unable to access just the massive opportunity that is currently in front of us.” ~ Saira Rahman

[16:54] - “The most important lesson [I’ve learned from my time in Financial Services] is probably that you really need to find a job that doesn’t feel like a job…I think having the ability to figure out exactly where you wake up every morning, and it just doesn’t feel like work, that is when you realize you are home.” ~ Saira Rahman

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