Anything worth investing in, with all these banks failing?

[Bjornviken]

Gold and silver, can't print them

 

[Cujet]

I think an Index Fund is a good way to go . If you have ever used a stock scanner you'll notice that as one sector becomes overbought the money goes into another sector which propels the Index even higher . So ultimately an Index keeps going higher as each sector within it sees money flowing into it .

Long term, that does not seem to be the case, see my post above. I'm an old guy, been there, done that, lost money, and no it does not come back. GM stock = $0, GE stock = nil, Sears = nil etc.

I am financially fine, but my stock investments have been lackluster.

My thoughts "if" I could go back in time: Turn my first home into a rental after 3 years. Turn my 2nd home into a rental after the same time period. And on until I had 5 rental homes nearby. The rent pays the 15 year mortgages, provides some passive income and heartache. But by the time I was 50, I'd have assets.

What I did instead was work hard as hell, no vacations for decades, incessant travel, zero time off, no weekends, etc, fighting for a good income, and spending nearly nothing, saving for 4 decades. I am very good at making money by working.

 

[zzyzzx]

Short term Tbills.

 

[PWMDMD]

Treasuries pay interest and the bond face value when due, always. It is considered 100% risk free except by the tinfoil hat crowd. However if you have to sell before it is due you may not get the face value depending on the current market interest yield rate at the time.

Wait! The Treasury issuing debt is bad but owning it is good?

That's for the peanut gallery, SeaJay, not you specifically.

 

[Warstud]

Long term, that does not seem to be the case, see my post above. I'm an old guy, been there, done that, lost money, and no it does not come back. GM stock = $0, GE stock = nil, Sears = nil etc.

Those are individual stocks . The SPX is an Index . Here's a chart of it going back to 1997 . Look at when it bottomed in 2009 at 666.79
and today it's at 3916.64 . The Stock Market goes up over time . Some Individual Stocks may and some may not .

 

[PWMDMD]

I think an Index Fund is a good way to go . If you have ever used a stock scanner you'll notice that as one sector becomes overbought the money goes into another sector which propels the Index even higher . So ultimately an Index keeps going higher as each sector within it sees money flowing into it .

ITOT and QQQ as my base investments plus some other stuff. It really isn't all that hard so long as someone doesn't pretend to be Gordon Gekko and try and "beat the market" when they don't understand you don't have to beat the market and matching it is more than enough with early planning.

 

[PWMDMD]

Long term, that does not seem to be the case, see my post above. I'm an old guy, been there, done that, lost money, and no it does not come back. GM stock = $0, GE stock = nil, Sears = nil etc.

I am financially fine, but my stock investments have been lackluster.

My thoughts "if" I could go back in time: Turn my first home into a rental after 3 years. Turn my 2nd home into a rental after the same time period. And on until I had 5 rental homes nearby. The rent pays the 15 year mortgages, provides some passive income and heartache. But by the time I was 50, I'd have assets.

What I did instead was work hard as hell, no vacations for decades, incessant travel, zero time off, no weekends, etc, fighting for a good income, and spending nearly nothing, saving for 4 decades. I am very good at making money by working.

How did you lose money with a decent total market index fund? If you invested $10K in 2005 it would be worth 5x as much today (see the yellow and blue lines). If you had invested $100,000 it's now $500,000 in 18 years and that's really hard to beat with essentially ZERO effort.

 

[Vern_in_IL]

Best done 3+ years ago.

It is still overpriced at the moment.

If you need some, then buy it, of course, but it is still quite expensive.

No, it is not overpriced. if "unobtainium" comes with a "need" then a hundred dollars a round would be cheap, think Walking Dead/Zombie Apocalypse/Guns N' Roses Jungle song.....

 

[JavierH19]

Just don't go all in on whatever next dead cat bounce Jim Cramer suggests you buy.

 

[SC Maintenance]

Best done 3+ years ago.

It is still overpriced at the moment.

If you need some, then buy it, of course, but it is still quite expensive.

This entire thread is about finding something that isn't overpriced. So far I believe were all batting .000

 

[Warstud]

ITOT and QQQ as my base investments plus some other stuff.

Both of those look good and have Golden Crosses . If you bought them late last year then your doing well .

 

[PWMDMD]

Both of those look good and have Golden Crosses . If you bought them late last year then you’re doing well .

I’ve been buying these for years and years…

 

[jake wells]

My investment is stock piling of shelf stable foods, ammo and fuel that i keep in rotation to keep it fresh. I have no debt and everything i own is paid off.
I cashed in all of my both of BTC's last year to pay everything off and converted the rest to gold and silver.

 

[AmBeRnEcTaR]

Tangible assets.

 

[GON]

I generally agree land is a good investment. I wish I had more. But its far from perfect.

You pay property tax forever. That tax gets increased at will. If your not a resident many counties charge you more. Residential property in my county is 3X taxes if your not a resident and its not your primary residence. You have to protect it from squaters. You need to protect yourself from someone getting hurt on it - even if its not your fault.

If you own rental / income property it can pay for itself and appreciate at the same time - but a lot of work comes with that, or you have to pay someone a lot of money to do a lot of work.

Not saying its bad, just saying there's lots of work with it. Not the same as parking your cash in a T-bill

SCM,

You are spot on- no free lunch when owning land/farming/income rentals.

As long as your land is not taken from you, history shows it is a very stable endeavor. Land owners are often very "cash poor- and assett rich". And when a landowner (farmer) needs a loan, that is where a huge risk/ exposure can be, My family has farmed the same land since the late 1800s. My great grandfather grew seven crops, so if half the crops failed, he still could keep the farm net positive in output. he also raised cattle, pigs, chickens, and had a small orchard. Not a easy life, I don't think he left the farm for one day for many decades. But my great grandfather never had to take out a loan.... ever..... But he never went on vacation either.

I mention as long as it is not taken from a person primarily from a experience I had working in Nicaragua about 15 years ago. I met a person from the US that built a hotel out of a former palace. Place was very cool. He was also building a casino from the ground up across the street from his small boutique hotel. But what the hotel owner told me has stuck in my mind. One day, the government will come and take what he has built. His landowner rights will be stripped. That is the risk of being a landowner is some parts of the world. And when governments can't pay their bills or wants to stay in power- it might be prudent to have other assets in addition to land. I can't ever flaw someone for having physical gold in the possession if a country has a very bad day.

 

[GON]

Long term, that does not seem to be the case, see my post above. I'm an old guy, been there, done that, lost money, and no it does not come back. GM stock = $0, GE stock = nil, Sears = nil etc.

I am financially fine, but my stock investments have been lackluster.

My thoughts "if" I could go back in time: Turn my first home into a rental after 3 years. Turn my 2nd home into a rental after the same time period. And on until I had 5 rental homes nearby. The rent pays the 15 year mortgages, provides some passive income and heartache. But by the time I was 50, I'd have assets.

What I did instead was work hard as hell, no vacations for decades, incessant travel, zero time off, no weekends, etc, fighting for a good income, and spending nearly nothing, saving for 4 decades. I am very good at making money by working.

Love this "I am very good at making money by working." kudos to you- about how life truly works when the system is true and fair.

 

[Donald]

Subscribe to Motley Fool. Buy 25 stocks the Stock Advisor recommends.

Recent recommendations are PAC and TTD and ACN.

 

[ATex7239]

The ammo and gold comments are amusing.

Modern societies historically have never survived and returned from economic collapse or hardship by hunkering down, reverting to bartering, and shooting each other. It has just never happened. If times get dire we get out of it by continuing on with a peaceful society. And stabilizing or if necessary reestablishing a currency. Along with that comes commerce, structure and the rule of law.

Beans, bullets and bandages sound like a cool movie or video title, but it is not a sound financial plan. Nor a good way to make it through hard times.

 

[spackard]

I’d invest in one of those paycheck loan places if I could figure out how - that’s the only new business to pop up in the neighborhood.
I think Walmart tries to be a competitor to them/those places.

 

[GON]

The ammo and gold comments are amusing.

Modern societies historically have never survived and returned from economic collapse or hardship by hunkering down, reverting to bartering, and shooting each other. It has just never happened. If times get dire we get out of it by continuing on with a peaceful society. And stabilizing or if necessary reestablishing a currency. Along with that comes commerce, structure and the rule of law.

Beans, bullets and bandages sound like a cool movie or video title, but it is not a sound financial plan. Nor a good way to make it through hard times.

""Beans, bullets and bandages sound like a cool movie or video title, but it is not a sound financial plan. Nor a good way to make it through hard times."'

Beans, bullets, and bandages were the difference between life and death for millions on every continent over the past 100 years.

Here are a sample from each continent- I could list additional:

Poland 1939 (Europe)
Uganda 1994 (Africa)
Mexico (current) (North America)
Chile 1973 (South America)
Papua New Guinea 1962 (Oceania)
Laos 1959 (Asia)