How Safe Is It to Invest Right Now?
We read through the information on the net every day regarding what is good or bad as an investment. Every year, Warren Buffet, the guru of investing, releases his own personal and business recommendations for investing. But, the downslide of the banking and investment world has wreaked a kind of havoc on the financial world that has left us all with a bad taste in our mouths. That taste has a distinct odor of greed, and will not be leaving very soon. So how safe is investing right now?
Historically, some of the best investments seemed to have been bonds, money-market funds, bank deposits and mortgages. This was the basis of our country and, while they seemed to appear safe, they held the potential risk of total hazard. Countries determine the value of their money and the real estate market is dependent upon the health of a country’s economy. We, the taxpayers, must measure what we invest in against what we have to pay in taxes on the investment. An initial 5.7 percent annual U.S. Treasury Bill might sound pretty good, but when you are done, at the end of the year, it equals zero.
Long term investments are not often the choice of the many. But, even Warren Buffet admits that these are what he keeps as a side note for the best investments. They won’t offer a fast return, and you won’t be able to roll them over, but, his word of advice is to not ever get rid of them. They are a failsafe.
Many people have become so skittish about investing, that they are turning to gold as an alternative happy zone of investing. As with any supply and demand situation, the mass quantities of people investing in gold have placed this as a high risk investment as well.
The art of the internet created a past bubble that eventually popped and left some very wealthy and others in the poor house. The rule of thumb has always been: if it sounds too good to be true, it probably isn’t true. Caution is now taken with any investment in the internet. After the crash occurred, those that were left standing seemed to be the best of the bunch. Investing in an internet company means researching into the longer term history.
After all of the pros and cons are listed for investing, it seems that there is a category that has stood the test of time. This would be the topic of productive assets. They can be real estate, farms or even businesses that have stood and increased in value through both inflation and the economic downtrend. Businesses that relate to sustainable and renewable energy as well as the ecology are showing not only an increase in value in the U.S., but around the world. Investing in the standard giants of the stock market may be a pricey situation, but, now that we have surpassed the hurtles of the economic woes, these are the ones that are left standing and are progressing.
The information supplied in this article is not to be considered as medical advice and is for educational purposes only.
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 Investment Basics 12 Jul 2012 |
