In the current financial climate, stocks are expensive. The S&P 500, a stock market index measuring the stock performance of 500 large companies listed on stock exchanges in the United States, is trading at 20.5 times earnings. This places it in the top 10 percentile of the most expensive stocks ever. Historically, when the S&P 500 has been priced at this level, it has averaged a mere 4% return over the next five years. This is not an encouraging prospect for investors looking for substantial investment returns. Therefore, investors must explore alternative investment opportunities to diversif…