The road to wealth is not necessarily found by working more and earning more, it is about saving what you do earn – if you earn $100 and you spend only $99, then you are always ahead of the game. Compound interest can make that dollar work for you!

With simple interest, interest is only earned on the initial principle, you do not get paid interest on previous interest that you earned; compound interest is much more profitable. With compound interest, interest is received on all funds in your account, including the amount of your initial deposit, plus all earned interest. In this way, your money grows much faster, and really grows over time. This is a particularly effective method of growing your money if done over time. Let’s look at an example:

You graduate college, and Grandma gives you $5,000. You decide to listen to the books you’ve been reading, and invest the money. If you put this money into an IRA, say at an 8% annual return, and never touch the money, by the time you retire at 65, Grandma’s $5,000 will have become $160,000! Sure, it took 45 years, but wow, from $5,000 to $160,000 is a huge climb!

Now, imagine if you flingspot deposited money into such an account. Say, Grandma gave you that $5,000, and you put it in an 8% investment. Then, the next year, you received a bonus at work of $5,000, and added that to the original money. Now, on a roll, you decide to put $5,000 a year into that account. At the end of that 45 years you would have saved nearly two million dollars!!! Yep, $5,000 a year, that’s the equivalent of a decent car payment each month, could make you a millionaire by the time you retire.

It is never too late to start either. Say you are 45, and you plan to work until you are 70. If you take $12,000 out of your savings now, and put it in an IRA, then you add $250 a week to that account, at 8% compounded growth, you could have over a million dollars when you retire!

Wine futures are one of the more popular alternative investments. For clarity, buying a box of Franzia does not qualify as an alternative investment. When purchasing wine futures, the vineyard is paid for a product that is still in the barrel. The consumer is guaranteed delivery of wine at what should be the lowest price for which it will ever sell.
Judging a wine 12 to 18 months before it’s bottled is like judging a painting with a few brush strokes on the canvas. If the artist is Dali, you might be safe in that assumption. If it’s Bubba Jones, you might want to reconsider investing. Always research the vineyard! Know from whom you’re buying.
The Foreign Exchange market or Forex began in the 70s when countries went from a fixed exchange system to a floating exchange rate.
Notable positive features of Forex are liquidity and accessibility. The market is open 24 hours, Sunday night through Friday. This creates an opportunity to react to any breaking news that might affect the market.
Forex has a reputation for risk and volatility. In reality, it’s fairly stable. Liquidity of major currencies insures price stability and narrow spreads.
The reputation comes from leverage ratios that are not available in other markets. Higher leverage (100:1) means higher profits and corresponding risk. Using less leverage reduces the risk involved while maintaining a nominal spread.
Real estate investing may cause many to cringe in fear. The economic reality is, more fortunes are made in a recession, than will ever be made in a boom. Desperate sellers are everywhere in places most people would never have imagined.
The secret to buying real estate is the average price has to be affordable by the average family. There are markets where a further price drop is inevitable. If you happen to be buying in that market, include that possible loss in value in the offer to purchase.
Due to families displaced by foreclosure, rentals are booming. Owning real estate does not necessarily mean pressure to sell in a down market. Renting the property and simply waiting it out is a viable alternative investment.

The other things to consider when buying land for building purposes will be building costs for things such as:

• Building Materials
• Land Surveys
• Possibility of Pipelines
• Labors Costs
• Electric, Gas and Water Hookups
• The IRS – Your taxes and the final property taxes.
• Making sure all permissions and building codes are sought and applied.

There are massive profits to be made through building property on land, whether it is living accommodation or commercial enterprise. There is also the consideration of possible permanent income in the long term through renting/leasing out property that has been built on the land as opposed to straight out sales.

Reason Two – Prospecting

Especially where land prices have fallen over the last few years or just in general, land can have great investment value for the future. Many people who do a bit of homework on local or national demographics statistics can find that profits can be made through holding onto land for a while. Maybe a profit can even be turned over rather quickly if land has been acquired though a short sale or a seller who has been desperate to sell.

There are a few pros and cons to buying land as a planned future investment profit, here are some of them:

The Pro’s

• Land acquired cheaply can be turned over to the next investor for thousands more than it was paid for. Especially if an investor is looking for land in an area that is short of building prospects. When considering land for future equity looking at other land or rather the lack of land local to the said plot will play a decisive role in value.

• Holding on to land during a recession or bad economic climate can see land value rocket up when the economy evens out or the recession subsides.

• Temporary farming prospects, there is the ability to make a second income through arable farming. Maybe vegetables, fruits, wine even animals. There are many farming techniques that can be applied to land. You could even rent out short or long term plots for local community allotments. There might not ever be the need to sell the land as you have a good income coming in. Again there is always an open opportunity to sell an already established business.

The Con’s

• There is always a reverse effect to any possible prosperity; land can also decrease in value. So keeping up with the current economic climate is a necessity. So it could be that keeping hold of land for too long is a bad idea.

• Maintenance is another cost factor as land that is not being used for long periods of time can become overgrown, which can in some cases devalue the plot.

Reason Three – Mining and Minerals

“There is Gold in them there hills!”

Maybe the land that has been bought has a wealth of mining prospects, obviously the more minerals the better but the reason for buying land may be massively profitable.

Considering that oil, gold and many other minerals are in great demand then if the land is mineral rich you could be too.

It is possible to buy land and have all the mineral rights, so do not worry too much about having too many legal loopholes if you suddenly strike a silver thread or a deep well of the black gold. There are of course a few legal requirements and geographical surveys to be conducted, but they all end up with a happily ever after story!

It is always nice to allow for wildlife with any construction projects, but especially during any mining and drilling. A nice safe haven will keep everybody happy, wildlife, local people and ecologists included.

If you buy land that has a possibility of a ‘strike’ then for want of a better reason, you may never have to work again. Wouldn’t we all like to drop on something like that?

Reason No. 1: The value of the dollar is decreasing. Just like any other monetary means, the dollars’ value has been decreasing on a steady rate. Every country compares their money to the US dollar, making it the most compared asset in the world.

Reason No. 2: Inflation is on the rise. Our economy is not heading in the right direction yet. Although economists say that inflation is decreasing, it has not been shown that it has yet. Prices are still sky rocketing and there is an increase in the number of people that are beginning to starve because of increased food prices.

Reason No. 3: Investors will decrease their investing risks. Since inflation is at an all time high, investors will decrease or totally stop their investing. They don’t want to continue losing money in traditional safe investments. Nobody likes to lose money especially investors. But in these tough economic times, even investors lose money. Unfortunate as it seems, it can seem unavoidable.

Reason No. 4: The price of oil is high. Due to the two wars in the middle east, it seems like the price of oil has increased tremendously, although it has only leveled out. Even though the price of oil is not as high as sixty dollars a barrell, it is still higher than years before. Just like money, oils price is affected by its amount of consumption. Also, when oil is converted into gasoline, it makes the price of oil go up as well. The price of oil increases because of the demand of the oil. This gives the oil producing countries the advantage of naming their own price. Making the other oil dependant countries begging for a lower price.

Reason No. 5: Gold needs to follow other liquid commodities. Since there are so many other precious metals, including copper, silver and platinum, the price of gold has increased in value steadily. It is not affected by a down economy or loses its value over night. The only way the price of gold is affected is when the value of paper money goes down and vise versa. If the value of all of the other commodities goes up or down, the value of gold is significantly unaffected.

Given this information, it is a good idea to start investing in gold. As it looks, it’s valuable.

The unfortunate truth is that people are suckered into promises of ten to thirty percent a day, week, month, etc increase in any invested amount. Investments that guarantee this type of return are universally fraudulent because the only way they could do this on a large scale and continue the program would be to actively counterfeit money. One particular case of a HYIP online scam comes from an imitation of the e-gold business. OSgold was started in the year 2001 and closed down in 2002. During that time they were estimated to have stolen or otherwise defrauded over two hundred fifty million US dollars through at least sixty-thousand user accounts. E-gold itself is considered a criminal site and company for illegal trafficking and laundering of money without license among other things. The basis for it was the immediate buying, trading, and selling of gold online between members. OSgold operated a HYIP version of this that did not survive for a year but ended up costing a great deal of money and leaving a lot of members in the financial lurch.

The most successful of these ponzi (pyramid) schemes is the one cited in the Bernie Madoff case. Everyone thought they were investing in legitimate stocks, and other holdings, but all they were doing is giving Madoff their money and he was in turn giving it to other people when they asked for their supposed profits from investments. If the economical tidal wave that crashed down on the world economy had not occurred no one would ever have known the truth.

The only type of HYIP program that could possibly work is one where the head of that program specifically guarantees an amount and they are required to sign a contract stating they will pay said amount no matter what. This in fact is not an investment program anymore when this occurs. This would change the situation into a short term loan with high interest. There is no investment, there is only a money lender and someone repaying the loan.

A typical HYIP ponzi scheme will, contrary to its fraudulent nature, serve to earn some investors a great amount of money in the early stages. If an individual can get in on the pyramid early enough they can in fact make a substantial profit. However, most people only find out about a lucrative investment plan such as this when it has already reached the financial melting point. That last tier of people to join will end up losing all their money and the only thing they have to show for it is life experience and moths in their wallets.

The only people to truly ever actively make money on HYIP investments are the original creators of the program. Everyone else that invests would be taking as great a chance with it as if they were to go to a local casino or play poker with their friends. It is nothing but a gamble and there is no true investment in it at all.

Yes, it can be very risky if you sink a great deal of money into the investment and get stuck without begin able to make payments or with vacancies while the market turns down and you end up watching you equity disappear. But, if you can buy a home and get a loan then you take some of that risk off your shoulders and place a lot of risk on the bank. Worst case scenario your credit gets ruined for a while but at least you won’t lose all your money.

The great thing about real estate is that there is always a demand for it. People need somewhere to live. Everyone wants to have their own home and there are a lot of renters out there right now that can’t afford to buy their own. So, if you are looking for a great long term investment that will give you the prospect of amazing returns while protecting your money against inflation, then real estate is your best bet. Especially now!

Factors Favoring Property Investment in the Long Run:

• Low interest rates – Lowest level seen in history.
• Instability in stock markets – Volatile markets are risky bets.
• Problems with Pensions – Your retirement savings might be safer in real estate.
• Low Management Costs – It can cost you a lot less to hire a property manager than a stock broker.
• Inflation Protection – probable inflation will raise real asset values like property.

The global economy has been in chaos recently and the world is unsure of what will happen next. However, I would say that there is more risk in holding currency than there is in owning a house. Even if world war three breaks out you’ll be able to take safe haven in a home. Whereas you may not have access to cash and even cash can’t keep you warm in the cold.

Ok, so that was a bit too dramatic a scenario, but still it gives you a sense of safety to your investment in real estate. Find a good deal, buy a foreclosure, use cash to get the best deal and get a loan a few months after you renovate and get a tenant. You can even use your rental income as income on loan applications. Leverage your money without the risk. Buy cheap and wait for the market to recover. Real estate is always a safe investment, long term!