Well I own some stocks but the market is down again. What do you think are good investments these days? Is Real Estate still the best investment around?

I think real estate is a good long term investment. I'm told though that the US real estate market will bottom out soon, but I don't know if that's true or not. I keep expecting gold and silver to do something, but so far they aren't. I own some, mostly silver, in the way of collectible coins.

Real estate over here on the east coast of Australia has been booming for quite a few years now.... almost to the point where buying a house is out of reach for first home buyers. I am not sure what the market is going to do though, as I haven't really been following it.

I do own some shares which are gradually increasing in price. I guess it is just a matter of being patient and waiting long term.

Great question GoalGuy!

Actually, any investment vehicle is good at any time .... IF you know what to do to adjust to the current market conditions. In each of the last recessions and depressions and price corrections, etc, there were more millionaires made than when times were on the upswing.

So it's not what investment is best. it's more about "which investment vehicle do I feel confident enough using in a down market?"

Knowledge is Power. Utilization of that Power is KING!

Well I own some stocks but the market is down again. What do you think are good investments these days? Is Real Estate still the best investment around?

Gold is probably the most reliable investment. But I guess oil could be a good investment too since it does not replenish. Just my two cents.

Tom,

Don't you mean the real estate is a bouble and is about to pop. :yikes: IE: prices will be going down.

I invest in people.

Tom,

Don't you mean the real estate is a bouble and is about to pop. :yikes: IE: prices will be going down.


Yes, that's what I've heard anyway.

Well, over the past few years the prices here have been going up. It would be nice if they went down a bit so housing would be more affordable.

Well I own some stocks but the market is down again. What do you think are good investments these days? Is Real Estate still the best investment around?


Hello GoalGuy,

I still think that RE is the best investment around. People will always need housing. There will always be a demand.

Peace,
CP

As far as a resource that will outperform any other, (in my opinion) right now Uranium will be the one to look at. As much as many don't like it, there are many nuclear powerstations being built in China, India & other emerging nations.

Gold and Oil will always be good, especially now (2006). If you look at the US dollar (spending) value now compared to the 1980's when gold peaked at approx US$850, gold can reach nearly US$2,000 per ounce to reach the same values.

So US$1,000 per ounce is only half of the actual value that Gold peaked at, in real terms.

Diverse portfolio of mutual funds. Sector funds can help an investor gain exposure to high growth potential while reducing some of the risk involved.

gm

Diverse portfolio of mutual funds. Sector funds can help an investor gain exposure to high growth potential while reducing some of the risk involved.

gm

I agree... a well diversified portfolio of mutual funds is the best... I've realized this after reading a best seller book regarding achieving financial freedom. As long as you are disciplined enough to alot a certain percentage of your income to your investment regulary...

I agree... a well diversified portfolio of mutual funds is the best... I've realized this after reading a best seller book regarding achieving financial freedom. As long as you are disciplined enough to alot a certain percentage of your income to your investment regulary...

The trick with mutual funds and/or index funds of course is how to do this properly within a tax sheltered vehicle, b/c if you have a 401k at work you are probably limited in how much you can self direct the investments, and if you are self employed that can be a challenge too. Two very good books to read are "All About Assett Allocation," by Richard Ferri, and "Rule One Investor," by Phil Towne (re: single stock investing). For you lazy lurkers, I will try to post an article from MorningStar that shows a sample investment policy statement and investment allocation. I can't post the link b/c you have to be a member so I will look for the actual article. Cheers.

The trick with mutual funds and/or index funds of course is how to do this properly within a tax sheltered vehicle, b/c if you have a 401k at work you are probably limited in how much you can self direct the investments, and if you are self employed that can be a challenge too. Two very good books to read are "All About Assett Allocation," by Richard Ferri, and "Rule One Investor," by Phil Towne (re: single stock investing). For you lazy lurkers, I will try to post an article from MorningStar that shows a sample investment policy statement and investment allocation. I can't post the link b/c you have to be a member so I will look for the actual article. Cheers.

I have a good article called How to Analyze Your Portfolio. It also has a sample Investment Policy Statement and sample asset allocation. It is very useful but too big to post. I have copied it into a Word file. Anyone who wants a copy send me an e-mail.

In my opinion, it doesnt matter much what's best overall or what other people are doing well with. Find what you are interested in...even better, find something you are passionate about. Mines real estate, ultimately, with internet-based investments bringing in the bread and butter till i get there.

Then again, you could argue that the best performing investments are what interest you the most. Fair enough. It comes down to what you want to do i suppose.

Tim

The key is to save and not live on plastic. Balance out interest rates, and don't be fooled by advertised interest rates. When investing, put a portion in blue chips, or solid stocks; some in CDs, bonds, etc; and then use 25% to trade in the stock market. You will have 75% in fixed lower rate investments, and then to balance that, you will have the rest to play around with in high yield investments.

The most important thing about investing is to save $ to invest. ;)

The most important thing about investing is to save $ to invest. ;)

Great point! Financial health must begin with living within, or better yet, below your means.

gm

Aw i dunno, there are advantages to debt. If you invest from a bank loan you wont pay capitol gains tax now will you ;) Even better, you can claim a loss and get money back.
Have to be sure of yourself and sure of your investment though :biglaugh:

Well I own some stocks but the market is down again. What do you think are good investments these days? Is Real Estate still the best investment around?

An associate of mine told me about safepay stock.

You can read more about it here (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SFPS.PK&d=t)

An associate of mine told me about safepay stock.

You can read more about it here (http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=SFPS.PK&d=t)


It's nine cents a share. Penny stocks are volatile and risky. Never invest what you can't afford to lose. For retirement savings mutual funds offer more security. Anyone considering investing should consult a broker or other experienced professional that you are certain you can trust.

gm

anyone feel interested in investing in Beijing, because now the city is becoming more and more international.and there are many new business developing at a fast speed. now we are in the business of chinese training , because there is a growing demand of chinese-spoken people, both in U.S. and even in Japan. what do you think? ^.^

I have some money in Templeton China World fund. Again I urge anyone considering investing to get advice from someone with experience you can TRUST. From what I have read in the business section of the paper, emerging markets have been hot for the last three years and are starting to cool off now. Returns are not expected to be as good in the near future. So the analysts are a mixed bag with some saying get out now and others saying it's still looks good long term. How much you invest, what vehicle you choose, and how long you hold on to that investment are questions that depend on your unique situation.

But again, seek the advice of an Expert you Trust.

gm

I think real estate is overall the best investment..for a few reasons

1) It provides cashflow, AS WELL as rises in value (most of the time at least)..even if you buy at a high price like now, 20 years from now - the high price now will be nothing

2) the tax benefits are so plentiful it's ridiculous

3) you can own real estate with even being in the state..if you know how to manage them correctly, very little time can be put into real estate

4) Like someone said before, housing will always be needed..no matter what. The world's population is growing exponentially..the only way the real estate market will level off is if the governments put limits on the amount of kids people can have

Yeah, I have to agree with you about real estate. The financial return beats out other investments.

yea, except for maybe some offshore investments....but most people can't even do them so they don't really count

Some real estate, ...but don't put all your eggs in one basket.

Some real estate, ...but don't put all your eggs in one basket.

agreed..diversity is key

If one market is bad (like real-estate is now)...you should always have the velocity of money working for you so you can take money out of one investment and put it into another investment class

Also somebody before said to make sure you save $$ to invest. Thats not always true. Like Kiyosaki says, the REAL investor knows how to use other people's money to propel his own cashflow.

I'm not saying don't save money to invest, because there's no point in that. I always save 10-15% or more of every dollar I make to re-invest. I'm just saying, don't solely rely on ONLY the money you have to make investments. Just make sure if your using other peoples money, you know the investment well enough to know it won't fail

I currently own one duplex (http://skinnyinvestor.blogspot.com/2006/05/earnings-season-panic-and-duplex.html) and a few mutual funds as well as some stocks.
I would like to get into building a business of my own or a franchise operation to further diversify my asset base.

Those who follow Rich Dad Poor Dad Principles will probably disagree with some of my plans, but they seem to be working OK thus far.

You can read about my investment journey (http://skinnyinvestor.blogspot.com) that started seriously this past year, but my risk tolerance is not very high just yet.

Best of luck to all of you in your investments.

hey ya gotta do what you can do though...at least your doing SOMETHING. Even though I follow Kiyosaki's rules, I'd never say someone else was doing the wrong thing, because everybody has different boundaries and can handle different situations....just getting out there and getting your money to work FOR YOU in any way is better than doing nothing..

:thumb: to you!

Reev,
Thanks for the encouragement. I hope to keep plugging away! One of these days it will pay off.

I am trying a variety of different strategies and tactics in hopes that one, or a combonation of a few, will suit me and allow me to be successful and reach my goals.

Thanks again fro the encouragement!

I currently own one duplex (http://skinnyinvestor.blogspot.com/2006/05/earnings-season-panic-and-duplex.html) and a few mutual funds as well as some stocks.
I would like to get into building a business of my own or a franchise operation to further diversify my asset base.

Those who follow Rich Dad Poor Dad Principles will probably disagree with some of my plans, but they seem to be working OK thus far.

You can read about my investment journey (http://skinnyinvestor.blogspot.com) that started seriously this past year, but my risk tolerance is not very high just yet.

Best of luck to all of you in your investments.

Hey Skinny,
I spent some time reading your blog entries and found them to be enlightening and entertaining.

Best of luck to you on your journey!:)
gm

Coach,

Thanks for the vote of confidence. If you have any suggestions for topics or changes to my blog, please let me know.

I am always interested in opinions of authors.

Thanks again and best wishes,
Skinny

Investing is a real problem today whether it is individual stocks, mutual funds, EFT's, income trusts, tax shelters, annuities, or anything a broker recommends.
Stock ownership in the U.S. is a horrible sham and scam for a country that promotes itself as a capitalist country. The holders of stock, the supposed "owners" of a public company, are the last ones to find out what is happening at their company. The mgmt, the employees, their spouses, neighbors, bowling buddies, golfing buddies, their hair dressers and barbers - in other words EVERYONE directly or indirectly connected to the company - KNOWS what is happening at YOUR company BEFORE you do.
Don't think the SEC is protecting you either. The SEC is a major part of the problem. The majority of the securities laws were written in the 1930's. But that matters little, the SEC is NOT enforcing the securities laws already on the books. New laws don't help when enforcement is woefully lacking.
The biggest problem is insider trading on information not yet made public, it happens thousands of time each day. The SEC is spending an exorbitant amount of resources on high profile, yet low importance, cases like Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart isn't even a "player" in this game. Her $35,000 gain isn't even chump change in the real, every day game of insider trading. Thousands of insiders are operating with impunity every day and doing ten to a hundred times better than Martha. Where is the SEC enforcement? Virtually invisible and non-existent.
Another problem is getting more timely information from your company before it is ancient history. The SEC is also the party most responsible for that problem. They only require quarterly financial reports while all U.S. companies, public and private, have had MONTHLY financial statements available for over forty years. Who has privy to those reports? The same people listed above - the insiders and everyone they know. Human nature being what is is, do you think any of those people are making actual buy and sell decisions on the company stock using the monthly financial information. DUH! How many times has a stock you owned collapsed in price BEFORE the news was made public? That happens every day to numerous companies, That is how insider trading show up.
What should a stock investor do to protect himself? Get the latest information you can before investing in any public company. Then watch the price chart for negative price trends. Insider information usually shows up first on the price chart. When the price trend starts going negative sell out and run for the hills. Don't wait for actual stockholder news to be released. By then it is too late. By then your money has already left the building.
If you think this is all bull, I've got forty-five years experience at seeing this happen.

Investing is a real problem today whether it is individual stocks, mutual funds, EFT's, income trusts, tax shelters, annuities, or anything a broker recommends.
Stock ownership in the U.S. is a horrible sham and scam for a country that promotes itself as a capitalist country. The holders of stock, the supposed "owners" of a public company, are the last ones to find out what is happening at their company. The mgmt, the employees, their spouses, neighbors, bowling buddies, golfing buddies, their hair dressers and barbers - in other words EVERYONE directly or indirectly connected to the company - KNOWS what is happening at YOUR company BEFORE you do.
Don't think the SEC is protecting you either. The SEC is a major part of the problem. The majority of the securities laws were written in the 1930's. But that matters little, the SEC is NOT enforcing the securities laws already on the books. New laws don't help when enforcement is woefully lacking.
The biggest problem is insider trading on information not yet made public, it happens thousands of time each day. The SEC is spending an exorbitant amount of resources on high profile, yet low importance, cases like Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart isn't even a "player" in this game. Her $35,000 gain isn't even chump change in the real, every day game of insider trading. Thousands of insiders are operating with impunity every day and doing ten to a hundred times better than Martha. Where is the SEC enforcement? Virtually invisible and non-existent.
Another problem is getting more timely information from your company before it is ancient history. The SEC is also the party most responsible for that problem. They only require quarterly financial reports while all U.S. companies, public and private, have had MONTHLY financial statements available for over forty years. Who has privy to those reports? The same people listed above - the insiders and everyone they know. Human nature being what is is, do you think any of those people are making actual buy and sell decisions on the company stock using the monthly financial information. DUH! How many times has a stock you owned collapsed in price BEFORE the news was made public? That happens every day to numerous companies, That is how insider trading show up.
What should a stock investor do to protect himself? Get the latest information you can before investing in any public company. Then watch the price chart for negative price trends. Insider information usually shows up first on the price chart. When the price trend starts going negative sell out and run for the hills. Don't wait for actual stockholder news to be released. By then it is too late. By then your money has already left the building.
If you think this is all bull, I've got forty-five years experience at seeing this happen.

1. Real Estate - First, your house! Second, your vacation home. Third, flips or rentals in areas not currently overvalued. Middle america is still a great place to buy real estate. My house in a suburb of columbus is up $20k in 3 years, and its still more sq footage per dollar than the national average! A friend down the road in a 'mini mansion' paid $450k for his place in 1997 and is valued at $900k today. It doesn't hurt that our suburb was in farm country not long ago, but now the city has expanded to reach us.

2. AAPL - although some say it can't go higher. I don't think you can wrong on the long term (7+ year) I'm glad I have plenty of shares at $8 a pop.

3. DSW - poised for a nice short term return (2-3 year)

4. MSO - if you want to short a stock and make a few bucks, I think this one is going to tank, even tho I love Martha.

I believe the first and very productive form of investment is education. When you learn about something, you know all it's tricks. So if you want to be an investor, invest first in financial education. No investment is better than the other. It depends on how you can play your game. For some, FOREX, for some REAL ESTATE and for some, STOCKS OR MUTUAL FUNDS. It all depends on YOU.

I would say convertible bonds
as safe and largely secured from loss
with a real potential for capital gain

DOES ANYONE HERE do convertible bonds
and tracks the opportunities there..???

best P M A

Investing is a real problem today whether it is individual stocks, mutual funds, EFT's, income trusts, tax shelters, annuities, or anything a broker recommends.
Stock ownership in the U.S. is a horrible sham and scam for a country that promotes itself as a capitalist country. The holders of stock, the supposed "owners" of a public company, are the last ones to find out what is happening at their company. The mgmt, the employees, their spouses, neighbors, bowling buddies, golfing buddies, their hair dressers and barbers - in other words EVERYONE directly or indirectly connected to the company - KNOWS what is happening at YOUR company BEFORE you do.
Don't think the SEC is protecting you either. The SEC is a major part of the problem. The majority of the securities laws were written in the 1930's. But that matters little, the SEC is NOT enforcing the securities laws already on the books. New laws don't help when enforcement is woefully lacking.
The biggest problem is insider trading on information not yet made public, it happens thousands of time each day. The SEC is spending an exorbitant amount of resources on high profile, yet low importance, cases like Martha Stewart. Martha Stewart isn't even a "player" in this game. Her $35,000 gain isn't even chump change in the real, every day game of insider trading. Thousands of insiders are operating with impunity every day and doing ten to a hundred times better than Martha. Where is the SEC enforcement? Virtually invisible and non-existent.
Another problem is getting more timely information from your company before it is ancient history. The SEC is also the party most responsible for that problem. They only require quarterly financial reports while all U.S. companies, public and private, have had MONTHLY financial statements available for over forty years. Who has privy to those reports? The same people listed above - the insiders and everyone they know. Human nature being what is is, do you think any of those people are making actual buy and sell decisions on the company stock using the monthly financial information. DUH! How many times has a stock you owned collapsed in price BEFORE the news was made public? That happens every day to numerous companies, That is how insider trading show up.
What should a stock investor do to protect himself? Get the latest information you can before investing in any public company. Then watch the price chart for negative price trends. Insider information usually shows up first on the price chart. When the price trend starts going negative sell out and run for the hills. Don't wait for actual stockholder news to be released. By then it is too late. By then your money has already left the building.
If you think this is all bull, I've got forty-five years experience at seeing this happen.


Wow, pretty grim but I think you are right. :yikes:

...
If you think this is all bull, I've got forty-five years experience at seeing this happen.To get this 45 years of relevant experience (I presume it is *relevant* experience) then you must have been investing in the very medium you seem to be advising us against? Are you?

What should we do instead, do you think?

I have been investing directly in stocks for the past 30 years and I have gained overall. Frankly, even if you are 100% correct, Al, I wonder what investment vehicle could be better?

Green ones. :)

Jennifer

Or you find a good company, you wait for some seemingly bad news that will have an emotional impact on the sellers to begin bailing. Then you buy and hold till it returns to normal. Or you wait for good news that creates a rally and then you sell short.

Basically do the opposite of what every one else is doing.


This is my personal opinion and does not constitute financial advice.great Advice though!

Houses in SoCal in about 3-5 years. probably other "hot" markets too.

Well I own some stocks but the market is down again. What do you think are good investments these days? Is Real Estate still the best investment around?Admitedly, this question was raised in May of '04 - since then the stock market has hit record highs (DJI, anyway - Nasdaq is still way down from its peak) and real estate has risen considerably and taken a mighty tumble again.

Also, the question resupposes that real estate was the best investment around. I don't buy that. It is one of the traditional investments, but nothing in this arena is ever 'the best' at all times and for all investors.

For over 35 years I have been almost entirely in stock (not counting my home), at first by way of mutual funds and for the past 25 years 100% stock directly.

I think I have done quite well. Apart from the occasional spells trading and selling short and market timing (none of which worked well in the long run) I have simply looked for a good company that appeared to be well managed and which had a reasonable-to-low PE ratio and bought and held until they no longer fitted the criteria. I have been conscious of the industry my chosen companies were in - for example, a sizeable percentage is now in companies associated with real estate - Toll Brothers, Fannie Mae, Novastar, HCN - and another chunk in the medical field - Johnson and Johnson, United Health, Glaxo, Merck and HCN again (HCN is a REIT of hospitals and clinics.)

I have chosen to be mostly in stock because I want liquidity - I can sell my stock and go all cash in a matter of minutes. Owning real estate would not give me that liquidity.

I call it 'Run-away' power. Though heaven knows where I would run to, if the sky fell in!

Real estate. But I'm biased.

I also stay away from things I don't know, like the stock market.:hmm: