What investment will keep up with inflation that is not the stock market? Gold?

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Real estate, specifically rental properties. Hands down the best investment I’ve made. I’ve got 15 properties - townhomes and single family. All of them but 1 are less than 5 years old (l’ve been doing 1031’s to newer properties). I have about half paid off, the rest are leveraged. On paper - for taxes - they barely make any money. In the real world, I’m cash flow positive in the healthy six-figures. Appreciation has averaged around 4% annual, except for the last 2 years that have been over 10%. Rental income has grown steadily, especially the last 2 years. My ROI on most of the properties has been around 10%, not including the incredible tax benefits of real estate.

It’s not that hard to get started either. Find a decent property and put enough down to make it cash flow positive. Use the surplus to pay down the loan quickly. Or, invest the surplus until you have enough to buy another, and another, and another. I’ve used the equity in some of my properties to buy additional properties several times. And, with mortgage rates at 3% - even for investors - this is probably the best time ever to be leveraged in real estate.

I have money in the market w/ a Vanguard advisor. I’ve also dabbled with crypto the last 2 years. Neither have been as consistently good as real estate.

Your mileage may vary…
People have to have a place to live... Of course, real estate values are highly location dependent.
Having said that, owning Silicon Valley homes free and clear ain't a bad way to go...
I got into a beater house that was all I could afford in the mid 1990's. It was the worst house in a little town called Los Gatos...
I flat out love living here. Opportunity abounds, even for someone who has made every mistake in the book. Like me...
 
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What investment will keep up with inflation that is not the stock market? Gold?​

Food.

No matter where i go there is always someone making money selling some kind of food. The fruit and vegetable guys beside the road make a killing.

If you have good strawberries and peaches you cant go wrong.


I wish i would have invested in Chic-Fil-A. I have never not seen them slammed to the max.
 
Remember, it’s your money, not the government’s. Taxes are going up. Some relish that idea but I don’t. Less money in your paycheck or pocket means less money to invest and spend.
You get a vote to say how you want the money spent. Doesn’t matter if you put one cent in or millions of dollars, you get the same vote. So it’s no longer your money that you sent in, it’s our money in equal share. People think if they put a million in, it is still their money. Too bad, it isn’t. The tax proposal is 400k adjusted gross income, not gross income. So a lot of people making millions have deductions enough so they still get no increase. Who has 400k net? Not many on a car oil forum.
 

What investment will keep up with inflation that is not the stock market? Gold?​

Food.

No matter where i go there is always someone making money selling some kind of food. The fruit and vegetable guys beside the road make a killing.

If you have good strawberries and peaches you cant go wrong.


I wish i would have invested in Chic-Fil-A. I have never not seen them slammed to the max.
Have you seen how farmers are commiting suicide because of deflated food prices?
 
Real estate, specifically rental properties. Hands down the best investment I’ve made. I’ve got 15 properties - townhomes and single family. All of them but 1 are less than 5 years old (l’ve been doing 1031’s to newer properties). I have about half paid off, the rest are leveraged. On paper - for taxes - they barely make any money. In the real world, I’m cash flow positive in the healthy six-figures. Appreciation has averaged around 4% annual, except for the last 2 years that have been over 10%. Rental income has grown steadily, especially the last 2 years. My ROI on most of the properties has been around 10%, not including the incredible tax benefits of real estate.

It’s not that hard to get started either. Find a decent property and put enough down to make it cash flow positive. Use the surplus to pay down the loan quickly. Or, invest the surplus until you have enough to buy another, and another, and another. I’ve used the equity in some of my properties to buy additional properties several times. And, with mortgage rates at 3% - even for investors - this is probably the best time ever to be leveraged in real estate.

I have money in the market w/ a Vanguard advisor. I’ve also dabbled with crypto the last 2 years. Neither have been as consistently good as real estate.

Your mileage may vary…
do you manage them or have a company do it for you?
My buddy in VT started last year and is trying to convince me to do the same in NY.

NY just has skewed laws.
 
do you manage them or have a company do it for you?
My buddy in VT started last year and is trying to convince me to do the same in NY.

NY just has skewed laws.
Most people I know with just a couple units do either, have someone manage it for them or just self manage. Most landlords that I know with lots of units, 10+ self manage.
 
Most people I know with just a couple units do either, have someone manage it for them or just self manage. Most landlords that I know with lots of units, 10+ self manage.

I figured it would be the opposite.
More units would be managed by someone else. Then again, I am sure the cost can get crazy.

Also, dependent upon if that is your full time job.
 
I figured it would be the opposite.
More units would be managed by someone else. Then again, I am sure the cost can get crazy.

Also, dependent upon if that is your full time job.
Yeah you would think so but it's the opposite because if you have a few units, you have people you can call to do various things. I have a few handymen and know several people that could do various jobs like painting, electrical, plumbing etc. You basically run into all the same issues when you have multiple units, but if you only have one or two, you might not have a good relationship with someone when you only have a problem every couple of years. I have 10+ units so I'm always replacing an appliance a couple times a year so I know who to go to for those or how to repair minor problems on them. Management is typically going to be anywhere from 5-10% of the monthly rent. So if you have 10+ units, you can easily be spending 1k+ to have someone manage all those units per month. And what management basically does is answer the phone. For 1k+, I can answer the phone every month. The landlords that I know that self manage tell me how they've tried management in the past and just decided to do it themselves.
 
If you have the money rental real estate is fantastic -HOWEVER -we've just seen a once in a lifetime scenario unfold where tenants were/ are still allowed to live rent free on your dime with no recourse allowed.

If you were on the edge of making it work as a landlord when covid started and got that tenant - you've likely lost it all by now.

I am lucky to have a rich tenant and have had no issues with rent. I manage it myself and having a good relationship with the tenant helps immeasurably.

If you do not have a lot of money, one can still do little things that hedge like buying consumable commodities in as much bulk as you can afford then. Things like laundry soap, dish soap, shampoo, garbage bags, razor blade - items you know you will use that inflate upward over time.
 
If you have the money rental real estate is fantastic -HOWEVER -we've just seen a once in a lifetime scenario unfold where tenants were/ are still allowed to live rent free on your dime with no recourse allowed.

If you were on the edge of making it work as a landlord when covid started and got that tenant - you've likely lost it all by now.

I am lucky to have a rich tenant and have had no issues with rent. I manage it myself and having a good relationship with the tenant helps immeasurably.

If you do not have a lot of money, one can still do little things that hedge like buying consumable commodities in as much bulk as you can afford then. Things like laundry soap, dish soap, shampoo, garbage bags, razor blade - items you know you will use that inflate upward over time.
When you have 10+ units, one nonpaying tenant doesn't really affect you that much. I guess I've been lucky and most of my tenants paid, one didn't but then when they finally left, only lost one month of rent which isn't that uncommon in terms of rentals these days. Most other landlords I know have had good paying tenants. It's all about screening tenants up front. Our state has also been good about paying back rent from the federal government, I think other states are way behind.
 
Ride Bitcoin & crypto up into the fall, watch SPX to breech the 50MA by 3% then rotate into SPXU...that's my plan anyway.
 
I figured it would be the opposite.
More units would be managed by someone else. Then again, I am sure the cost can get crazy.

Also, dependent upon if that is your full time job.
From my parents' perspective. If you are retired you can probably self manage about 15 or so units assuming you are healthy and handy, but when you reaches 20 or so units you have to get outside helps. Main stress usually comes when units are vacant and you need to repair / remodel / list / screen tenants / show etc. Multiple units being vacants at a time will suck up a lot of your time. After 15 units it becomes a contract full time job where you have busy months of the year and then nothing going on for a few months.

For mom and pop landlord with little to no mortgage because they bought a while ago, having vacancy beats having to evict deadbeat tenants that may ruin your place. Screening is very important, probably the most important thing, of being a landlord, and something that I do not feel comfortable outsourcing to someone without skin in the game. Repair is fine outsourcing to a handyman.
 
From my parents' perspective. If you are retired you can probably self manage about 15 or so units assuming you are healthy and handy, but when you reaches 20 or so units you have to get outside helps. Main stress usually comes when units are vacant and you need to repair / remodel / list / screen tenants / show etc. Multiple units being vacants at a time will suck up a lot of your time. After 15 units it becomes a contract full time job where you have busy months of the year and then nothing going on for a few months.

For mom and pop landlord with little to no mortgage because they bought a while ago, having vacancy beats having to evict deadbeat tenants that may ruin your place. Screening is very important, probably the most important thing, of being a landlord, and something that I do not feel comfortable outsourcing to someone without skin in the game. Repair is fine outsourcing to a handyman.
I know one guy with 20+ units that he self manages and has a full time job. He's been doing it for years. He has a handyman so he has help when he needs to fix up a unit. Most self manage landlords have 10-20+ units. I've had my units for 12-15 years so most of them have already been fixed up through the years, new bathrooms, kitchens, floors, roofs, heating systems etc and I only do new appliances because used ones will only break in 1/2 the time and one more management headache to get a new appliance installed. My dentist had a building with 20+ units and he used to take calls from tenants while he was working!
 
If you have the money rental real estate is fantastic -HOWEVER -we've just seen a once in a lifetime scenario unfold where tenants were/ are still allowed to live rent free on your dime with no recourse allowed.

If you were on the edge of making it work as a landlord when covid started and got that tenant - you've likely lost it all by now.

I know a landlord with a cop trying to get out of paying rent on time, landlord told cop he’s going to police HQ and file a complaint against him. Landlord eventually got all his money and cop moved out.

New renter moves in and 6 months later CDC issues a rent moratorium. Was landlord screwed by CDC..... or did his new renter keep paying ?
I didn’t ask him. But it’s very risky to have your financial success in the hands of a total stranger.

I can buy a few rental properties cash but I really don’t want or need the headaches or problems. The civil court system will be flooded with evictions very soon. Some landlords are offering non paying renters Cash 4 Keys to move out of their property. Some landlords are getting March 2022 court dates to go in front of a judge.
 
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do you manage them or have a company do it for you?
My buddy in VT started last year and is trying to convince me to do the same in NY.

NY just has skewed laws.
All of my properties are in Utah, I live in Nevada. I have 4 different property managers that handle the units for me. They all charge 7% and, to me, it's well worth the cost not to deal directly with the tenants.
 
If you have the money rental real estate is fantastic -HOWEVER -we've just seen a once in a lifetime scenario unfold where tenants were/ are still allowed to live rent free on your dime with no recourse allowed.

If you were on the edge of making it work as a landlord when covid started and got that tenant - you've likely lost it all by now.

I am lucky to have a rich tenant and have had no issues with rent. I manage it myself and having a good relationship with the tenant helps immeasurably.

If you do not have a lot of money, one can still do little things that hedge like buying consumable commodities in as much bulk as you can afford then. Things like laundry soap, dish soap, shampoo, garbage bags, razor blade - items you know you will use that inflate upward over time.
Maybe I've just been very fortunate or had good tenants in a good market, but we only had one renter that was delinquent in late 2020. I've had zero problems this year. I've certainly had units sit empty for a month or so, or had to lower the rent a bit, but that is a rarity in the current market.
 
I have a toll bridge I could let you in on for a nominal investment. ;) But seriously, too many people have already tried to divest from the stock market by buying investment properties (houses) that they do not live in. Of course it has created a housing "shortage" and now States and Counties are looking into doing variable property tax depending on weather or not it is the house you live in.
 
All of my properties are in Utah, I live in Nevada. I have 4 different property managers that handle the units for me. They all charge 7% and, to me, it's well worth the cost not to deal directly with the tenants.
You don't have good people skills?



I have a toll bridge I could let you in on for a nominal investment. ;) But seriously, too many people have already tried to divest from the stock market by buying investment properties (houses) that they do not live in. Of course it has created a housing "shortage" and now States and Counties are looking into doing variable property tax depending on weather or not it is the house you live in.
This is common in several cities in my state. Boston is probably the biggest one, you get a residential exemption every year for up to $3,153.02. Basically what that means is that if the property is assessed for less than $295.5k, you don't pay any property tax.

Doesn't stop people from renting out their units though.
 
You don't have good people skills?




This is common in several cities in my state. Boston is probably the biggest one, you get a residential exemption every year for up to $3,153.02. Basically what that means is that if the property is assessed for less than $295.5k, you don't pay any property tax.

Doesn't stop people from renting out their units though.

Depending on where you live, property taxes run from .5% to nearly 3%. Double or triple those numbers for vacant investment property and people would be less inclined to speculate in vacant properties.
 
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