BAR wrote:
hk wrote:
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"hk" wrote in message
. ..
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
"hk" wrote in message
news
wrote:
On Tue, 22 Jan 2008 08:50:19 -0500, hk
wrote:
IBM is still in business?
They actually opened a couple bucks higher today. It is still about
16-17 bucks off the 52 week high. I am still not sure what they do
these days
Except for two stocks, we got out of the stock market years ago
and don't really pay any attention to it, except to chuckle over
its vagaries and the belief anyone pays to its "integrity."
What a silly generalization.
Perhaps you believe in the "generally accepted accounting practices"
of listed companies. We don't.
OK. What investments do you use which have consistently stayed ahead
of inflation?
These days, commercial real estate for income and appreciation, and
some raw land options which we picked up and exercised in the early
1990s. Every couple of years we sell off a lot and at some point,
we'll probably sell the remaining lots to a respectable
architect/developer. We've done very well with the land speculation. :-)
We also bought gold in the low $400s. Not certificates, coins. And we
have some money invested in private businesses, a real speculation on
our part, but the bookkeepers are honest.
Your land speculation is just that speculation. I could take stock in a
publicly traded company and turn it into cash money tomorrow. You land
sale has to wait for a buyer and the subsequent deal to actually go
through.
Why would you buy gold coins? Are you digging a bomb shelter in your
backyard too?
Liquid assets, let me repeat that liquid assets.
Land speculation is indeed land speculation. My land partner and I
speculated way back then that owning about 100 acres of heavily wooded,
rolling land in a certain part of Fairfax County would pay off, big time.
It has, and it continues to do so. My guess is that *one* of those lots
is worth more than your net worth. Good times or bad times, not a month
goes by in which we don't get a call asking us if we want to sell
another lot. Usually the answer is no. When we do sell a lot, I put most
of my proceeds, after taxes, into our private REIT and some of it in our
money market account and some of it in a sock. Or if we need a new car,
I simply pay cash for it.
As for the gold coins, well, while I didn't buy them for their
investment value, it's nice that they've just about doubled in value
over these few years.
Oh. I don't "finance" the purchase of cars or boats. But I've already
posted that.
I'm thinking of starting up a charity that finds ways to keep
subperforming students in high school so they get their diplomas and
don't quit to join the military. Such a program might have helped
someone like you, eh?