Only 1% of the $30 trillion that Americans invest in stocks, bonds and funds go to small business.
A little over a year ago Juli Kaufmann finished moving about $75,000 — her entire personal portfolio — into investments in local businesses. It all started four years ago, when Kaufmann, 46, who runs a small real estate development company in Milwaukee that emphasizes sustainable development, decided she'd had enough of Wall Street. Instead, she wanted to support companies in her area and, in so doing, boost the local economy while making a respectable return.
Through her involvement with Fund Milwaukee, a grassroots investment network; and a statewide group called Wisconsin Women's Business Initiative, she's put her money into about a dozen enterprises, including a bicycle shop, an ice-cream store, real estate and a brewery.
Mostly making loans, she's been paid back on schedule or ahead of time in all but one investment, typically charging an interest rate of around 5 percent. "I wanted to have a more tangible connection to my investments, to understand where my money is going," she said. "It seemed like a no-brainer."
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