Regardless, I like the amazing low volatility of lending club returns.

Have you considered multi-family or another asset class with more consistent income volatility and less risk in management?

and between us we have $470,000 cash liquid and $600,000 in ROTHs..HERES THE POSITION OF THE TWO OPPOSEING POSITIONS:partner #1 - use all BUT $100.000 of liquid cash, sell off 50 oz of gold , 125,000 wholesale value of unset  precious GIA certified gemstones and  an art collection to be auctioned and pay off the 10 houses that generate then $14,700 a month in gross cash flow before taxes and insurance WITH THE ABILITY TO RAISE THE RENTS EVERY YEAR SINCE THE CRASH...then switch focus to direct mail and wholesaleing and get out of the flipping in a volatile market that is at it's probable peak....only do a couple flips a year INSIDE the ROTHsPartner #2 - Keep plodding along and stay liquid with the $450,000, borrow hard money for the flips at 10% and use the cash to rehab and let the tenants slowly keep paying down the properties while switching focus to direct mail and wholesaling..

They are volatile and extremely dangerous.

Just look at how volatile the Dow Jones has been over recent years.

As far as learning through those investments, I'm not sure it would give you any great insight.I personally prefer REITs to CF but if your time horizon is that short you're better off not getting into the stock price volatility of a REIT stock.

You can then pay off that volatile HELOC.  

So I might have a property in CA that I hope will appreciate, some property in Utah where the market is less volatile, some in Memphis for cash flow, but if FedEx goes bankrupt or moves overseas I don't want all my eggs in the Memphis basket so maybe I buy a few properties in Texas, and I like visiting Vegas so have some properties there for tax deductible trips to sin city!  

You also may want to lock in your heloc rate down the road to eliminate volatility.

Some folks have money in IRAs and other accounts on which they want a better, safer, less volatile return.