What is the best investment for the future?!

[Masquerouge]

How about I just make my living, and give parts back to whomever's helped me along the way (the church, family, government, etc.)?

What will you do when you retire?

 

[Xanikk999]

I dont know anything about economics but il guess video games or oil.

I could be very wrong though. But if you want to have a secure amount of money not effected by inflation i would just buy gold.

 

[Godwynn]

I dont know anything about economics but il guess video games or oil.

I could be very wrong though. But if you want to have a secure amount of money not effected by inflation i would just buy gold.

But what if you bought it in '79? It was trending downward for a good decade in the late 80's through mid 90's.

 

[Xanikk999]

Fine, what about platinum then?

 

[El_Machinae]

Platinum is a limited resource. In addition to being a determinant of wealth, it's also a useful product (meaning its value will continue to rise).

Beware the asteroid mining, though!

How about I just make my living, and give parts back to whomever's helped me along the way (the church, family, government, etc.)?

Such practice will never be discouraged, and is certainly a succesful strategy.

 

[Fifty]

I'd say the best investments are in figuring out way to survive without a vast industrial economic system supporting you. In ten years, when peak oil hits, currency as we know it will cease to exist, and all the governments of the world will collapse. My plan is to escape the rioting via sailboat, and try to make it to madagascar where I'll live good and grow fat off of the flesh of lemurs and indigenous peoples.

 

[Raisin Bran]

Real estate (urban and suburban) would IMO be the best option. Housing is probably the safest placement you could do that usually yeilds good to exellent results.

 

[Stolen Rutters]

Madagascar? Lemurs? *I like to move it, move it! I like to move it, move it!*

Do you mean financially? Now that you have a small chunk of money and are wondering what to do with it? Depends on your personal situation.

Following are some broad financial ideas that I tried to live by in the past. It may not apply to you.

- Get a degree or a learn a marketable skill (or start a business if you are the entrepreneurial type, and can already provide a service that people will pay for.) If you aren't already independently wealthy (completely living off the interest of a large investment), you have to earn something. May as well spend less time overall earning any given amount. A degree, I have already done.

- Already in a profession or doing something that you love (meaning a relatively predictable earning power throughout your lifetime)? Spend less than you make and try to reduce or eliminate debt. (Build equity in a home rather than tap it to buy stuff, for example.) Even before you get rid of all your debt, you start saving for when you won't be able to work anymore (sick, layoff, retirement, etc.). This is where I am right now.

If you time it right, you should be completely out of debt (not even a mortgage) and have a pile of cash saved up to meet later life expenses. My short term goal is to have no debt outside of my mortgage by 2010 and have the mortgage eliminated by 2018 (the year I turn 48).

 

[Abaddon]

Some tech or medic... small investment with big risk, but if they find something, your on to big bux.

 

[StarWorms]

Oil companies. Demand is increasing, supply is not. Prices rise. Oil companies get richer. Shares rise.

Real estate is a bit of a shaky one in the UK, as we've had a housing boom in the last decade. This house is now about 3 times more expensive than when it was bought, although it's not really certain if the boom has ended yet.

 

[History_Buff]

Various precious minerals. There are any number of high tech applications that will demand the special properties of certain minerals.

 

[CIVPhilzilla]

For long term investments, nothing beats a well diversified stock portfolio.

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

For long term investments, nothing beats a well diversified stock portfolio.

you mean:
For long term investments, nothing beats a well diversified actively managedstock portfolio.

 

[Hygro]

How about I just make my living, and give parts back to whomever's helped me along the way (the church, family, government, etc.)?

you will retire poor, and your children will have to take care of you financially.

**
I voted for the precious metals, but in a different way than Narz may have intended.

What I meant was invest in creating gold or silver (etc) mining Companies, not through hoarding gold coins and silver bars.

 

[Hygro]

you mean:
For long term investments, nothing beats a well diversified actively managedstock portfolio.

That's not true. Allow me to quote:

"An investor with $10,000 at the start of 1969 who invested in a Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fund would have had a portfolio worth $422,000 by 2006, assuming that all dividends were reinvested,” Mr. Malkiel writes. “A second investor who instead purchased shares in the average actively managed fund would have seen his investment grow to $284,000."

Also, WRT real estate: I voted in real estate as a means for passive income, like renting out office space in a downtown or housing in an educationally high-performing suburban school district, not for the capital gains of buying low and selling high.

 

[nihilistic]

Real Estate is ok but volatile. Not that great unless you live in it. Pharmaceuticals is where the future money is, and the return is all but guaranteed.

 

[The Last Conformist]

Protection rackets.

 

[JerichoHill]

Actively managed funds are a ripoff, and only make money for the managers.

invest in index funds. thats it. thats the secret

 

[Hygro]

but create companies if you want the big bucks

 

[Pasi Nurminen]

Viet Nam was recently listed as one of the top ten upcoming countries to invest in.