Sunday, March 05, 2006

Your Networth

Often times this blog is dedicated to discussing stocks and company related securities. Indeed, it is dedicated to helping young people make a fortune from the financial market. Beyond and above all these is the issue of your networth. Wall street is a big casino- money is made and money is lost, and it will be insane to leave your financial health to the topsy turvy of this gargantuan operation of geniuses, mavericks and con men. That is why the issue up for discussion today is your networth.

Simply put - securities i.e. bonds, futures, options and stocks; should just be part of the many bits and pieces of your networth. Building a fortune requires hardwork - but keeping them is even harder. It gets harder if all you are worth is on Wall Street, which makes such wealth allocation preposterous at best and downright foolish at worst. Other parts of your networth that should be worth considering are:

Real Estate: There is no better investment than your own house the cliche goes; and it is true. Forget those rent vs. buy comparison calculator. What a rent amounts to is paying another man's mortgage for him. Any fresh graduate can easily afford owning a home in many of the tame markets today without taking a risky credit profile. With 0-10% downpayment options, you can afford a small house for 100-150k financed over 30 years. In the future, you can easily consider refinance or trading your small home in for a bigger one if you have to. At least all your rent didn't just go down the drain for say $100 extra. With the possibility of reverse mortgage, you can easily spend your equity if your retirement calculations was way off point afterall u know. The earlier you build this equity remember, the better for you. Over the past years, real estate have reasonable outperformed the stock market. While it is not going to remain so, it is still going to trump the huge casino because livable land is continually shrinking and population is expanding. Period. You might also consider an investment property for rent or sell- it is often better to share the risk of such investments with others - so forming a small group of real estate investors for this purpose will be very smart on your part.

Antiques and artwork: This is quite an Avant Garde area. But you sure can cash in on the craze sooner than later. Buy that popular artistic piece and hope that 30 years later when you retire it is gonna be rare, and you might have made the best decision of your life.

Precious stones and jewelry: The resource crunch and the growth of CRIB (forget BRIC- China, Russia, India and Brazil) have unleashed a new lease of life for stones and other precious metals. The sooner you stock up on this the better for you. They are good hedges on inflation as well.

Your Personal Business: Simply put - be your own boss. When you are not at the mercy of your boss you just discovered the sure path to living a prosperous life. Most self made millionaires are business owners. Do not think this is a far fetched dream- just think simple, do what you like doing most and sell yourself. It has worked for generations of immigrants that came to this country and it can work for you. The time to start is now- just do eBay for a starter and you will not be the same again.

Other forms of alternative investments include dog/horse full or part ownership for racing - which can be a very lucrative form of business as well as timeshare certificates.

Remember, your networth is your confidence and your security. Peace out.

**Article Spotlight- Saving Your Retirement