Scott-LOL - very good, however, we are working with individuals seeking to utilize bitcoin, the volatility is a metric to consider, but Bitcoins can be converted to regular currency, though various controlled means.  

LOL.As opposed to the locals in a town buying all their rentals..the locals know the ins and outs the risk reward of certain neighborhoods and won't touch them for buy and hold. its the unaware naïve investor that gets sucked into those.. the foreign investors especially. the UT most care must be taken with buying out of state properties....

With the hot tech sector, insatiable foreign demand for RE, and the "never-ending" flow of capital into the best place on the world to live, it can go way further!

Are you a foreign national or US citizen currently purchasing a property in the USA?

Think blocks of Detroit that have gone to seed. 4. exit can be next to impossible these assets only trade usually between other locals who know the values and the risks or they trade to unsuspecting foreigners or out of state folks who have no clue until they own it and get a big lesson.If you live them work them and make it your life mission they can work but its a skill set and a life choice.. many I know in the asset class and I know many... they get pretty jaded after a few years.. but this what they do for a living.. they live on the cash flow..

She makes quarterly payments to the IRS from all her investment income - I would assume they're stocks, index funds, mutual funds and foreign investments (she wouldn't go into detail about these).

Ask other foreign business owners in town who did their work before you commit any money.

Foreign currencies have merit, unless the issuing country is debasing its currency.Commodities look interesting as Asia continues growing.My local cash is short term and I still remember the high t-bill rates of many years ago.An adventurous soul might look for overseas opportunities and move to Singapore like financier Jim Rogers (co-founder with George Soros of the Quantum Fund).IMO, a very interesting diversification in RE would be farmland.

No more "stimulus" that goes to funding emerging market development to the extent that it has become overbearing and unsustainable and has emerging economies imposing restrictions to reduce foreign investment.

I am certainly not in the hyperinflation camp, because historically that has never happened with the core currency (U.S. dollar), only peripheral currencies.