"ACP" wrote in message
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"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
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On Tue, 01 Aug 2006 14:03:29 -0400, DSK wrote:

Many people are actually gambling, not investing,

All people investing in stock/bond/commodities are gambling.

It's the nature of the process.

I, on the other hand, never gamble on something I can't put my hands
on. Gave that up right before 9/11. The only stocks I own are IBM
(big dollars - bought really low) and a couple of oil companies.

My new investment strategy is if I can't put my hands on it, I ain't
investing in it.

Real estate - in particular multi-family homes.

Can't go wrong - everybody gotta live somewhere. :)

Just playing a little devils advocate....but real estate has it's ups and
downs also.

As the current real estate "boom" begins to cool off, many people around
the country are going to find themselves upside down with their mortgages.

Real estate is not immune from price depreciation. This is something you
or I have no control over anymore than we do with stocks/bonds/commodities
except the latter are much more liquid, and for that matter can be more
volatile.


Real estate is also not liquid. You can step inside the house but try to
convert it to cash when you need it..

Fearing that the market is due for a big adjustment I was able to recently
withdraw a sizeable chunk from our non 401K retirement funds (through my
broker and at his advice) and place them with a highly rated and respected
fund company that gave me a 10% bonus for doing so. I must keep the money
in the account for at least 5 years and I cannot withdraw more than 5% in
any one year without a 15% penalty. The money will be invested as it
normally was in domestic and international stocks and bonds and I will
realize profits from those investments. I can never lose more than what I
initially put into the fund though. As we do not need that money it was a
win-win option for us.

The remaining 35% of our account remains in the market and can be withdrawn
at any time. It, however, is subject to drastic losses if the market turns
south.

If anyone is interested in this option send me an email and I will give you
more specific information on the plan and the company.