What should we be investing in now?
About 2 weeks ago, I asked a partner of mine to go out and solicit investment ideas from a small group of readers, close associates and friends. Starting today, I am going to repost and discuss some specific ideas given to us by this modest population of successful individuals.
Today, we bring you Gary. (not his real name, of course)
Gary is a close friend of mine and knows our staff extremely well. He is a self-made man, investment professional and well-educated. Here are his ideas pertaining to what we should be investing in right now.
Gary’s been investing in currencies and real estate for over 40 years. Many of his real estate holdings are in foreign countries such as Ecuador. “All of our real estate has been purchased at prices well below even the current market. I spend a lot of time researching and fixing up because I love working with buildings and land,” says Gary.
In addition to real estate, Gary is an avid paticipant of the Forex market. FOREX is the market that trades currencies between countries. Gary suggests investors consider a multicurrency approach, because, to him, investing in one currency is speculation. Gary adds, “Nothing wrong with that, if you know and accept the consequences of speculating incorrectly.”
Gary also offers us three trends he sees developing:
(1) Return to value. Value investing has long been our philosophy. No reason to change now, but other investors have been chasing the easy, fast bucks in rapid appreciation. Look for a shift towards owning high-yielding, solid, boring shares and bonds.
(2) Real estate. The real problem investors face is not an economic meltdown. Inflation is the genuine risk because governments have proven that they will flood markets with liquidity to avoid the meltdown. Inflation means that cement will cost more. So, too, will steel and labor. I salivate when this fundamental meets a global real estate correction and am buying so much real estate I scare myself.
(3) A shift to underlying currency value. Where does an investor go when the euro is no longer trusted and the dollar is fundamentally weak but suddenly flexing muscles it should not have? My guess (and here I am overweighted) is investors will lean towards currencies of small, economically sane, solid, established, politically sound countries… such as Norway, Sweden and Denmark. If so, these currencies will rise versus the euro and dollar. If I am wrong, they are least likely to fall.
Thank you, Gary, for your insight and positive message! We hope to hear more from Gary in the future, here at TheFlipBoard.com!
