The whole buy farmland thing is annoying, as if farmland doesn’t experience bubbles and busts too. Buy where? Plus there can be restrictions on usage.
Its an option, but you need to check the details like anywhere.
[quote=“headhonchoII”]The whole buy farmland thing is annoying, as if farmland doesn’t experience bubbles and busts too. Buy where? Plus there can be restrictions on usage.
Its an option, but you need to check the details like anywhere.[/quote]
And I think there are also some ethical issues and a long term risk of appropriation.
If you buy your own farm, and are involved in running the business, then it is different, but it’s not for everybody.
[quote=“Charlie Phillips”]2.5% might be the official interest rate set by the Reserve Bank of Aus, but you get 4.5% in HSBC Aussie dollar term deposits.
You can get anywhere from 4.5% - 12% per annum, paid monthly with bond based mutual funds which also give you growth on your principle, although the value of the principle can go down as well at times. In the volatile markets we’ve experienced the last couple of years I’ve found the bond funds to be quite resilient and stable in value with small growth in principle and reliable monthly returns.
*This information does not constitute financial advice. Before making investment decisions…yada, yada, yada[/quote]
Assuming that the OP was looking for 4-5% per annum and not 4-5% per month, that’s the route I’d go. But instead of Mutual Funds I would buy bond based ETFs. The charges for ETFs are lower.
The capital value of bonds tend to be quite stable - they’re unlikely to fluctuate more than the bond yields (so if you have a bond promising a yield of about 4% then even if you get market timing wrong then rarely will the capital value to drop by much more than that.
The big difference between ETFs and Mutual funds come with the charges. Mutual funds are actively managed, meaning that there is someone working for the institution who keeps buying and selling the assets in order to get the most out of market timing - theoretically that person can make you some extra money but there are higher charges necessary for paying the person. Studies show that more often than not the extra money that person makes does not cover the charges. If you go to a bank they will always try to push you into mutual funds because their commission is higher.
Start here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intelligent_Investor
or here: http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/letters.html
Then try to get your hands on Margin of Safety, by Seth Klarman.
Where ever you put money has risk of loss, even just leaving in a saving account risks devaluation to inflation. I think the previous advice of gold might be sound, but not based on anecdotal evidence, and IMO that is important, whatever you decide to do with your money, look into and research what it is your getting into, even usually sound investments like property have their bad times too, and losses can be substantial.
For gold, goldnews.bullionvault.com/ has some good articles, a couple of recent ones Will gold hit a new all-time high on Christmas Eve? and Why Central Banks are Buying Gold
Thanks for all the sound advice so far. Really appreciate it. It looks like I have a lot of reading/research to do.
Also I checked Vanguard UK (I couldn’t register the US version) and the min starting investment is 100,000 pounds. It certainly an option i might consider.
[quote=“Charlie Phillips”]2.5% might be the official interest rate set by the Reserve Bank of Aus, but you get 4.5% in HSBC Aussie dollar term deposits.
[/quote]
yeah, but once the Australian dollar drops (and it will) you are SOL.
If your looking for a asset allocation model of a pretty passive portfolio then you can check out “When Markets Collide”, the breakdown is also found here seekingalpha.com/article/93756-m … ts-collide . If you just want broad exposure and less risk that is pretty good and a lot of international exposure can be done effectively with ETFs these days. El Erian is very good and has a view point of an asset manager making realistic returns with realistic risk.
Regarding bonds being resilient in todays markets that is most likely a thing of the past since the bond market has been in a very large bull market for since the 80s pretty much. Also with the current central bank policies of depressing rates across a wide range of bonds your risk is more heavily weighted to potentially under-performing inflation if you hold longer term bonds and if you hold a short duration portfolio then your not going to get much yield at all.
Also be careful of any one selling a product that makes returns such as 1% a week since those people could raise billions to invest if that successful and would not waste time showing you how to do if for fear of the secret getting out.
Whoa nice name Jason, Five eights eh?
That’s actually the name of my email, Tony88888.
I’m assuming you’ve seen the movie “Rogue Trader”?
That’s if you want to invest directly with Vanguard. You can invest through an intermediary with much less through someone like Alliance Trust (not recommending them, just giving an example). If you’re a UK resident you can put the first £11,280 of that sum in a Stocks and Shares ISA wrapper (double if your partner/spouse opens an ISA too) and keep your returns tax-free.
Right now, it is good to keep the money safe. I personally go for Fixed deposits. Low return but my principal doesn’t disappear 
.
Invest a good chunk of it in ARR or MTGE for 14-16% annual returns with most of their product backed by the US govt. Any stock appreciation is just extra gravy. These will be good thru mid 2015.
It doesn’t? What’s inflation?
Depends where you are, I suppose. Inflation-beating time deposits in Taiwan? 
Yeah, right. Just about possible in the UK though.
[quote=“GuyInTaiwan”]
It doesn’t? What’s inflation?[/quote]
At least the number I see in my book remains the same. Think about increase costs and decreasing balance amount in the bank together 
;
[quote=“Tony the Tiger”]Whoa nice name Jason, Five eights eh?
That’s actually the name of my email, Tony88888.
I’m assuming you’ve seen the movie “Rogue Trader”?[/quote]
Hahaha your the first person to understand the reference and not think it is for good luck. Good movie.
spend it all thats what money was made for
You really need to consider how much risk tolerance you have, what your goals are and how long until you need it. If it was me I would have it in a mix of stocks and some safer investments. For it would be money that wouldn’t be getting touched for 20+ years.
I would also look at buying some farmland near my father’s land that he could manage (rent out or hire hands to work) for me. I would need to look at the current prices because farmland seems to have been appreciating fast recently. It might be too expensive to buy.
You also need to consider what type of accounts to put it in. If you’re in the US (I don’t think you are) then the Roth IRA’s are a sweet deal especially if you are a low income earner.
[quote=“jason88888”][quote=“Tony the Tiger”]Whoa nice name Jason, Five eights eh?
That’s actually the name of my email, Tony88888.
I’m assuming you’ve seen the movie “Rogue Trader”?[/quote]
Hahaha you’ the first person to understand the reference and not think it is for good luck. Good movie.[/quote]
Hahaha same here, no one has ever understood the name of my email. They always think it has to do with luck.
You’re the first person that has ever referenced the movie. 
I remember renting that movie on VHS when I was in high school. Great movie if you love finance.
Great minds think alike
[/quote]
Hahaha same here, no one has ever understood the name of my email. They always think it has to do with luck.
You’re the first person that has ever referenced the movie.
I remember renting that movie on VHS when I was in high school. Great movie if you love finance.
Great minds think alike [/quote]
So do you work in finance in Taiwan? I am currently studying for level 2 of my CFA exam while studying chinese and going to just be doing my own investments.