I have been investing for several years now, throughout that time I have had some strong profits and I have had some investments that didn’t fair too well. One of the questions that I get asked most by my friends and family who want to get into investing is where, where should I put my money?
The short answer is that it is completely up to you where you put your money, there is no type of investment that is guaranteed and your investment choice should depend on which market you know best and how much cash you have to play with. For more details, I wanted to write a little about some of the options that you have before you should you choose to start investing.
Real Estate
People often say that bricks and mortar are the safest place to put your money, in my case this has most certainly been true and the biggest profits which I have seen on any of my investments have come from real estate. The reason that real estate is a safer investment than most is because of the relative stability of the market and the fact that you can sit on property for a long time, take monthly rent and still have an asset to sell at the end of it.
Hedge Funds
Hedge funds can be a great place for investors who want a bit of risk about what they do, without having to pile thousands of dollars into doing so. My buddy John Kleinheinz hedge fund guru and wealthy investor has used this method of investment to make huge upsides on his investments. The idea of a hedge fund is that many investors pool their resources together to buy stocks and can take risks from short selling them because of the funds which they have in hand, funds which are usually used to buy long term ‘safe’ stocks.
Oil Futures
My career, prior to investing, was spent in the oil industry so I already knew a thing or two about the markets and this was the first place that I started investing. Oil futures are contacts which predict the price of oil at a set date in the future, if the price on that date is above what your contract says then you can guarantee oil stocks at your contact price. These contacts can be traded prior to their expiry depending on the price of oil and if you know what you are doing you can make some very strong profits.
Stocks and Shares
I have only recently started with stocks and shares and at the moment I take a very risk averse approach and invest in blue chips for small gains. If you have a good understanding of the markets and their impacts however then buying and selling stocks and shares can be an exciting and profitable way of making money.