O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

Does anyone (who knows what he’s talking about) have any ideas or advice for some sort of bury it in the back yard or hide it under the mattress type investments? Something that a person can easily buy for a couple hundred or a couple thousand at a time every once in a while?

It should be something that doesn’t require a lot of specialized knowledge (art work, classic books, antiques, etc) or time consuming market following, nor anything that generates additional paper work and tax complications. Something other than “put in stocks and wait.”

Something that has a chance to beat inflation over a 10 or 20 year period ... not a 1.4% CD or Money Market account.

Not Franklin Mint Collector Plate / Star Trek Chess Sets pathetic and hopeless type crap.

I know that investment grade diamonds are something very different from jewelry store diamonds, but that is the extent of my knowledge on that subject. They are probably out of the price range, anyway.

Are the tanzanites they’re pushing on Jewelry TV in the same category as collector plates, preying on stupid, poor people or are they actually an “investment” with some potential?

Something that is pretty easily liquidated when the time comes. Bags of silver coins, perhaps? Or some particular sort of gold coins or bars? Can they readily be sold in coin shops or somewhere without taking a huge beating on both buying and selling?

Any ideas?

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

I hear silver is a good investment.

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

If you actually want to put it under the mattress, then buy gold. silver is too bulky. With a 10-20 year horizon you probably won't be tearing it up but it will keep up with or outpace inflation.

If you actually want to invest and you don't need liquidity, you should be putting the maximum in to tax defferred accounts allocating as much as you can to small cap stocks with a healthy portion in emerging markets. Then, and this is important- never check to see how its doing. Any investment specialist can help you with this. do some research and bite the bullet with the paperwork.

If you want to be really risky then bankroll me [img]/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img].

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

Drugs

I believe this correctly meets all of your listed criteria

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

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not a 1.4% CD or Money Market account.

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On a 10 year CD, you should be getting a hella lot better than 1.4%.


This would probably get more (and better) replys in the stock market forum.

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

Tough question. I wont claim to be an expert at any of this, but I don't see how a novice could possibly expect a better return off diamonds, gold, art, etc. over the market.

You don't want to study the market, or make risky plays? Fine, s&p500 index fund. Lower expenses than any other fund, and highly diversified with a small piece in many major US companies. This will likely crush all that other stuff over 10+ years (not to mention beat the hell out of most fund managers).

CD's do suck, but better than sitting in an even lower % savings account. You can squeeze out a few extra dollars (while remaining semi-liquid) by staggering cd's.

I'd imagine the mark-up on most of this stuff is large. Walk into your local coin shop and buy $200-300 worth of quality coins. Go back in a few weeks and see what he'll give you for them. I'll guess 75%, tops. These dealers are a lot like poker players, they can smell a sucker from a mile away.

I know this isn't exactlly what you asked, but I think it's very solid advice. I'd hate to read about how you lost your ass on investment grade collector plates [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

Hockey cards are probably pretty cheap right now. Maybe once the NHL recovers they will go up in value. I haven't tried this, but have heard of some people who had success with baseball cards during their strike.

Note: I don't even know if there are any hockey cards worth anything.

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

stock index funds

low cost,you should average 6%-8% yearly over eternity.Of course you may go thru stretchs where the market flatlines for 1O years-it happens.
Set one up and dollar-cost average monthly thru automatic montly deductions from checking/savings account.
Vanguard,Fidelity should do the trick.I use Vanguard VTSMX.
You could also buy QQQQ or SPY or any other broad market exchange traded fund and just hold it but I think the custodial fees or inactivity fees could possibly cost you more than an index fund.

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

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Set one up and dollar-cost average monthly thru automatic montly deductions from checking/savings account.
Vanguard,Fidelity should do the trick.I use Vanguard VTSMX.


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Ditto. Setup a dollar cost averaging plan with a Vanguard index.

If you do not want to spend a ton of time each month learning the market and researching investments (most people don't and shouldn't), you have no chance of beating the market beyond random luck. However, matching the market over a 10 year horizon is pretty damn good. The key then is to beat the "rake", buy more under-valued stocks, and buy less over-valued stocks. Vanguard has the lowest fees for index funds available.

Also, for more liquid investments, it's hard to beat ING's Orange Savings. Even with today's low interest rates, the APY last month was 2.35%. They generally offer a better rate on their regular savings than a most banks offer on their long-term CDs. Back when interest rates were higher, they were offering over 5%.

Re: O/T Looking for \"under the mattress\" type investment
 

Something I do with all my spare cash is to buy "broken gold jewellery", I get it for 15-20% discount to its gold content. I then refine it myself and separate the gold from the silver (freebie) and other metals.

There are always friends, acquaintances, etc. that have old jewellery, coins, scrap, etc. that they want to dispose of. At a nice 20% "entry profit" is a good deal.

When my hoard gets too big, I sell the 99.9% pure gold to a jeweler at full market price plus a premium for being it a black market operation.

All in all I'm happy with it.

If you want details on setting up a "gold and silver home refinery" with some pots and acids and cheap chemicals, etc. I have a guide that I sell for $100. You will produce 999.5%+ pure gold and 999/1000 silver.