Quote:

---

I plan to use it to make a downpayment on a condo or duplex, or something like that. Then, I'll officially be a landowner, and hopefully I can make some money on an increase in property value.

---

For your first donkeyload of money there is no better investment than buying the right house for yourself, preferably one you foresee will increase on its property value.

AFOAF started buying and reselling stuff on eBay. Being skilled, he progressed to buying --> repairing --> selling cars. Now he's up to doing the same thing with houses: buying houses that are a bit run down but in a good spot, living in them while making repairs and then selling them. His nose for good deals, his skills and dynamic attitude have earned him quite a bit of money.

I notice a lot of people put their money in the bank. Given the low bank interest and the high inflation in especially the USA the money itself may actually lose its value sitting there.

EU inflation is in the order of 2.5% but in the US it is as high as 7.5% (if you don't listen to the gov't partyline but do some research of your own) So in the EU your money may just break even on a decent bank account, but even in a very good account you may be losing a lot of value in the US.

For instance, lets put $1.000 under the matress and $1.000 in the bank and keep it there untouched for 5 years. At current rates of inflation , the $1.000 now has an absolute value left of $800 if you kept it in the bank at a good 3.5% interest rate and if you left it under the matress get ready for a shock: the absolute value of this money is down to $625. It just can't buy what it used to.

The European situation, at 2.5% inflation is less extreme. At the bank your E 1.000 will have become E 1.050 absolute value, and under the matress its absolute value will diminish to E 875.

Put three or four zeros behind these figures and you know what keeps rich people up at night.

Here's something you probably weren't let in on: all kinds of money (fiat currency) without exception shrivel away from once proud currencies into game tokens and monopoly money. Give it time and it all becomes worthless.

This is because fiat currency in fact are game tokens. Open your wallet. Those precious pieces of paper are worth nothing - all they are is game tokens that say you're entitled to so many points of value. But the number of tokens is NOT connected to an amount of value - you will always need more and more tokens/dollars to buy the same items. Then there are the coins, the nickles and dimes. Ah! but these are worth something! Not exactly their denomination in tokens, but the metal has value. You could split a dime in two, sharpen it to form two arrowhead and hunt rabbits with it. When people stop believing in dollars, your nickles and dimes will be worth more than your big dollar bills. The irony!

People can say: ah but we have a Weak Dollar President. The next president will make the dollar strong again. Umm, whatever comforts you guys. Whatever value you lose under a weak dollar president, or a strong dollar president, is lost forever. A Strong Dollar President just means you'll lose your dollar's value less rapidly. But lose you will. Every day. When it's dollars. Or euros. Or whatever you pay with except eggs.

Especially when you live in the US, it would be wise to look into ways of investing your modest sum in a more profitable way than a savings account. A good way to get out of the diminishing value loop is to buy commodities of intrinsic value. If you got green pastures, put some sheep on there and sell wool, lambs and meat. Work with what you have. Or invest in a grow setup and sell fresh herbs and spices on the market


These Canadian Gold Maple Leafs are old fashion money - they are money like it should be, before we got tricked into accepting pieces of paper with numbers on them. Nowadays sold as "bullion coins", their real value in gold is almost exactly the price you would pay for them.

At this very moment for these coins you would pay in US dollars:

1oz - $705
1/2oz - $370
1/4oz - $190
1/10oz - $80
1/20oz - $45

The bigger the coin, the closer they are to spot price, which at the moment $675/oz. America makes these coins too, called Gold Eagles, the Chinese have their Gold Pandas, Austria the Gold Philharmonics, Australia the Gold Kangaroos, and the South Africans have the Krugerrand, which are the cheapest of all gold coins to buy. ($686 an ounce currently)

As a value preserve, gold is excellent because it is in fact a commodity. While dollars are game tokens, Gold, like a horse, is property. It is value in itself. There isn't a country in the world that wouldn't take your gold in exchange for goods and services.

There are even strong rumors that the value of gold might go up in the coming five years. The going estimate is it will go up a full 33% but there ae estimates as high as 50-150% value increase, or even more, effectively pwning many top dollar investments.

Many more fortunate people in the third world preserve their earned value by converting it into gold and silver. It's like having a high quality bank, except you don't need a bank. Since the dollar is more and more resembling a third world currency, and since there are serious forecasts of gold going up in the coming years. It might not be a bad idea to stock up on cheap (fractional) bullion coins, such as Gold Maple Leafs and Krugerrands.


[/leprechauntalk]