Boring Investing Can Be Dangerous Investing

Saint is a word that suggests a holiness, and Saint Investment sure tries to come across as holy. The company is pushing its "boring" firm as a must-own opportunity on Meta's Reels. Nothing is more real than real estate, according to President Nic DeAngelo on his website. He says a lot in the video on that page, including how he could make more money than Warren Buffett

If I had a dollar for every time I said to stop putting your money in volatile assets, I would richer than Warren Buffett at this point.

Nic DeAngelo

He then discusses what Saint Investment does and what it has done over the past two decades.

What Saint Investments Does

According to the website, the firm has $206 million in assets under management and has paid back $13.4 million to its investors:

He talks about "top tier" assets, high returns, flexibility and safety. He discusses Buffett's idea of investing in things that one knows. He then drops Bora Bora and golf as better alternatives to living than to accept the volatility of stocks.

The video on the website and the ad on Reels sounded interesting, but is it so exciting that the firm manages $206 million or that it has maid payments to its customers of $13.4 million (6.5% of the AUM currently)? Nope!

The Saint Income Fund, which provides "cash flow you can live on," has been around for over a decade. The fund has three different classes, C, D and E. They each have a $50K minimum investment, but the terms of the three are different, with C having a six-month term, D having a 1-year term and E having a 3-year term. E, which is Gold, pays 12% annually by the month, while D, which is Silver, pays 10% and C, which is Bronze, pays 6%. Hmm. We should go for the Gold!!!

Of course we should! Check out how awesome it is, according to the people selling it:

Sorry, but 2% fee is not "low" in my view. Yes, though, it is secured by real assets. DeAngelo and his team lead a large-scale distressed asset purchases and innovative syndications. They buy debt at a discount.

A Look at Nic DeAngelo

I like that DeAngelo is on LinkedIn, but his profile does not tell the whole story. In January, he did publish a newsletter, though the date had the wrong year posted at the top (not 2025!)

I confirmed that DeAngelo is not an investment advisor through FINRA. The company's website does not provide a Form ADV. He does write and apparently has talks as well.

What Saint Investment Is Not

Saint Investment is not registered with the SEC or with with FINRA, nor is Saint Investment a real estate investment trust (REIT). In fact, the company posts a blog piece on REITs and private funds, the latter of which is what Saint Investment is. So, it is an investment management firm that is not regulated, and it is a real estate investor that offers a private fund that is not a REIT.

REITs can be good, as I have written previously. They provide distributions to investors that are free of taxation at the fund level. They are very liquid, as they are publicly traded stocks. I follow several REITs closely, and there are ETFs that provide a lot of diversification, as Saint Investment promises to do. One of the funds that I follow closely is a very large Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund (VNQ), which has assets currently of $38 billion. It has returned less than Saint Investment over the past decade (total return of 59%), but it is very diversified and liquid.

Saint Investment does not share its current portfolio, anything about the portfolio historically, or even what it looks like.

• What types of industries?

• Which banks are they buying from?

• What is the geographical exposure?

• What are the metrics on the loans?

  
  

Saint Investments says a lot, but it is leaving out a lot!

Why Investors Should Fear Saint Investment

Looking at the returns, its pretty clear to me that the company has boosted its assets recently. $200 million is not that big compared to the REITs that I track. The historical returns are not provided by the month or year.

It's hard to be confident that Saint Investment will fail, but it is even harder for me to be confident that it will do very well. It is not a registered investment advisor, and it is not regulated by the SEC. It is not a REIT either. Investors are told that they can cash out very quickly if they change their mind, but there is no information provided about how many can do so without crushing the company. Is Saint Investment as safe as they proclaim? The economy is weakening in many ways, and interest-rates are rising. Saint Investment was not around during the Great Recession, but I wonder how it will perform if real estate weakens further. Remember they are buying weak loans that banks are selling due to capital charges being charged.

Nic brags about how boring Saint Investment is, and, I agree, boring is good potentially. It's what he doesn't say that concerns me.