I’ve been stashing extra cash into Groundfloor for a while now, treating it like a semi-retirement fund because it used to grow at only around 6% a year. It also used to lock up my money until the loan I had invested into (e.g. $1,000 into 1 loan) was repaid. Normally, that’s fine with me. he steady (if modest) returns made Groundfloor a decent and relatively low risk side bet. Then the developers introduced all kinds of new features… Auto investing account (not what you think) and then a “Flywheel Portfolio,” and suddenly, my returns jumped beyond anything I’d expected.

The regular (let’s call it “legacy”) account is basically a peer-to-peer lending platform focused on short-term real estate loans. You pool your money with other investors to fund property flippers or small-scale builders, who then repay with interest once the project is done. I like that you can invest as little as $10 in whatever loan you want, spreading out your risk. Each loan typically lasts anywhere from a few months to a year, and you only see your principal and interest once that borrower fully pays back. It’s not super liquid, but it’s straightforward.

I never disliked Groundfloor, but I didn’t rave about it either. Money took time to come back (I still have not received my $20 from a loan I made 2 years ago). Gains hovered around 6%. Then they released an auto investing setup that let me distribute, say, $20 into 20 different loans chosen by your risk tolerance, rather than $20 into one. That small shift cut my risk and turnaround time drastically, letting me see interest trickling in more often, boosting compounding. Suddenly, I was hitting closer to 10% yearly. That figure alone made me blink. 10% in a real estate-based P2P platform is on par with stock index returns. I found it funny how a simple auto invest feature could transform the entire experience. No more sitting around for that single big loan to finish. No more hunting for new loans manually either. Each month I just deposit a chunk of cash, let auto invest scatter it among available loans, and watch the frequent micro-repayments roll in. A slow but satisfying drip feed of returns.

This is where it gets crazy. A while back, Groundfloor introduced something called the Flywheel Portfolio. I jumped into it without reading the details, to be honest. Since this is a retirement acc I also promptly forgot about it. Fast forward a few months, I log in today and see this ridiculous spike in my growth chart. Over $88,000. I did some calculations and realized its closer to 13-15% annual returns now. What the hell? I dug through old emails and checked my payment history, and I saw references to “Flywheel” left and right ever since the spike.

Apparently, this new system somehow gets you better-yields? How does it work? I still have no clue because I haven’t read it and will probably never do. Don’t judge. That’s a big improvement from the original approach, where idle funds might sit around if you didn’t invest them manually. If you have read this far and want to open an account, you can do so by clicking here. You and I will get $50 each after investing $100.

Bond interest rates have climbed, with some hitting 6% recently. That’s not trivial. One advantage of bonds is the tax incentive, like those from certain government bonds with specific tax benefits. These can sweeten the deal. But even with that perk, 6% is still below what I’m seeing from Groundfloor’s 13–15%. The P2P structure does come with some risk, though. If real estate markets tank, or a borrower defaults, you can lose a portion of your principal (which you can get back through class actions, etc. so it’s not a big deal). However, the Flywheel’s recent massive up in performance keeps me more comfortable even if I have to pay some taxes here and there.

There is also the fact that you have to invest at least $1,000 in bonds, whereas you can invest just 1% of that in Groundfloor. Plus, the intangible satisfaction of investing in real projects (and occasionally seeing photos of them) beats watching a bond’s yield creep along.

Groundfloor started as a mild side hustle, giving me 6% in an unexciting but reliable manner. Today, it’s hitting 13–15% because of new features like auto invest and Flywheel. That’s better than the 6% I’d get on a decent bond, even factoring in some government bond tax perks. If you’re looking for something beyond your typical bond portfolio, Groundfloor might be worth a shot. Check out Flywheel if it’s an option for you, and keep an eye on your returns. You might find, like I did, that p2p real estate lending can be more rewarding than you ever expected. Who knows. maybe we’ll both watch our rates climb even higher by the end of the year.