From Volatility to Vision: Why I Left the Stock Market for Real Assets

By: Jason Ottilo

Co-Founder | Next Legacy Group

When the world shut down in 2020, my wife and I—like most people—had time to think. We were both working, raising a family, and watching our savings bounce like a yo-yo on the stock market. One week we felt rich. The next, our retirement accounts had dropped twenty percent.

It hit me: everything I owned was tied to one system—the stock market. My 401(k), my mutual funds, even the “safe” index investments all moved together. No hedge, no diversification, and no control.

I wasn’t managing my money. I was watching it.

The Wake-Up Call

That realization pushed me to look for something different—something real. Around that time, I picked up Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. I didn’t expect much; I figured it would be another self-help book. But it flipped my perspective completely.

For the first time, I understood the difference between working for money and having money work for me. Real assets—like real estate—weren’t just about cash flow. They were about control, leverage, and ownership.

My wife, who’s a real estate agent, was already ahead of me. She’d been talking about owning rental properties for years. So we started scouting single-family homes, hoping to buy one, rent it out, and start small.

What I found was discouraging. Between the down payment, renovation costs, and ongoing maintenance, it was a big outlay of cash for a modest return. If a tenant left or paid late, the income vanished. I was still exposed to risk—just a different kind of it.

I started asking myself: if real estate was supposed to be the path to freedom, why did it feel so fragile?

Scaling the Vision

Then I came across Grant Cardone. Let’s face it—he’s an ass sometimes, but a genius other times. Still, he made one point that stuck: “Go bigger, not smaller.”

Multifamily real estate, he explained, isn’t just safer because it’s bigger—it’s safer because it’s diversified. One vacancy in a 200-unit property barely moves the needle. But one vacancy in a single-family home can wipe out your profit for months.

That idea changed everything.

Instead of trying to collect houses one by one, I started studying larger assets—apartment communities, RV parks, and storage facilities. The math made sense, and the risk profile felt more balanced.

So I took the leap. My first big investment was an RV park. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked. The cash flow was steady, and I could see the business from every angle: operations, management, financing, and growth.

From that first deal, everything accelerated. I started meeting people who thought like I did—operators, investors, and partners who believed in building wealth through real assets. We collaborated on projects, shared resources, and grew together.

Just three years later, I’m now an investor in and general partner of over 1,000 multifamily units, plus storage facilities and the RV park that started it all.

Beyond Buildings: Diversifying Into Alternative Assets

As I learned and grew in this space, I realized that diversification within alternative investments is just as important as diversification away from Wall Street.

Real estate was my gateway, but it wasn’t the only lane. There’s a wide spectrum of alternative options that can offer yield, stability, or asymmetric upside—if approached with discipline:

• Multifamily and workforce housing for durable, inflation-hedged cash flow.

• Storage and RV parks for steady, recession-resistant demand.

• Private debt offerings for fixed income backed by real collateral.

• Build-to-rent, land development, or note funds for structured growth.

• Other private credit or equity opportunities that compound returns outside public markets.

Some of these investments produce ongoing income; others build long-term equity. Together, they create balance—a portfolio that can weather cycles instead of reacting to them.

Why Alternatives Make Sense Now?

The volatility of the past few years has made one thing clear: traditional markets don’t give investors true diversification anymore.

When the stock market drops, everything tied to it tends to drop too—401(k)s, mutual funds, ETFs. Bonds used to act as a counterweight, but rising interest rates have eroded that safety net.

Alternative investments offer something different:

• Tangible value—You can see the asset, improve it, and directly affect performance.

• Predictable income—Cash flow comes from rents or interest payments, not market sentiment.

• Lower volatility—Private assets aren’t priced minute-to-minute by algorithms or headlines.

• Tax efficiency—Depreciation and other incentives help keep more of what you earn.

Yes, alternatives come with their own learning curve. They’re less liquid, require diligence, and often depend on strong operators. But they allow investors to take back control—to earn, protect, and compound wealth on their own terms.

The Birth of Next Legacy Group

After building my own portfolio, I started seeing a bigger opportunity. Many investors I met wanted to diversify into alternatives—but they didn’t know where to start. They wanted to invest alongside professionals, with transparency, flexibility, and a clear strategy.

That’s what led to Next Legacy Group and our partnership with Avestor. Through the Next Legacy Fund One, we’re giving investors access to a diversified mix of multifamily, storage, RV parks, private debt, and other alternative assets—all within one flexible fund structure.

Avestor’s customizable fund model allows investors to choose which deals to participate in, how much to allocate, and when. It combines the flexibility of direct investing with the professional structure of a fund.

Our focus is simple:

• Cash-flowing assets across multiple sectors and geographies.

• Debt and equity opportunities that balance growth with stability.

• Conservative underwriting that keeps downside contained.

• Investor alignment through transparent reporting and co-investment.

We’re not chasing trends—we’re building durability. Long-term wealth that compounds through discipline and shared opportunity.

From Fear to Freedom

 Looking back, the biggest shift wasn’t just financial—it was mental. I went from watching markets I couldn’t control to owning assets I could understand.

The stock market will always have its place. But for me, the goal isn’t speculation—it’s stability. I’d rather own something that produces income whether the market’s up or down than sit in the passenger seat of Wall Street’s roller coaster.

My mission now is to help others make that same shift—to move from volatility to vision. To stop outsourcing their future to systems built for someone else’s benefit.

At Next Legacy, we’re building more than portfolios. We’re building legacy—the kind that outlasts the next market cycle.