What have you invested since the recession and how are they doing?

[umair127]

real estate, stocks, anything?

the recession dealt quite a bit of damage to me. so i chickened out and mostly missed the boat.

i guess i will catch up with ya on the next downswing

I buy and hold index funds, so my performance has been almost exactly the same as the market. But I started a new, higher paying job in September 2008, so I had a lot of free cash flow and put every red cent I had into stocks (through index funds) when they were cheap. I timed the market in that respect.

I don't own any real estate, bonds or bond funds, individual stocks, precious metals, or anything else. The simple reason is that they are either more expensive, more work or have weaker performance than stocks, or all three (for example, in the case of real estate).

But of you bought a house you could live in it while waiting for it to turn profit. A house holds value a lot better than stocks. And even if the value goes down to a worthless level, you can still make use (and profit) of it unlike stocks .The key question is, when did you start investing

A residence is a nonperforming asset. It does not generate any profit. And the rate of return on residential real estate is vastly inferior to stocks--about half in real numbers, even lower in real return. That's not to mention the lack of liquidity in residential real estate and all of the taxes, upkeep, insurance, etc. It is also, as many learned in the past 6 years, among the least diversified and most risky ways to hold capital. 1992, but in a more serious way in 1996.

Residential real estate does provide a rental yield (profit), which can be attributed to a homeowner's returns. But real estate investors have a lot of delusion about the superiority of their (inferior) assets. Public equity does outperform residential real estate, and especially on a risk-adjusted basis, given the lack of scope for diversification in real estate investments.

The psyche of the average investor is a strange thing. Everyone knows that you should buy low and sell high and, as Buffett is always quoted, be greedy when everyone is scared and scared when everyone is greedy. But in practice people tend to do the exact opposite. They tend to be willing to take on more risk and buy more stock when prices are high, when they should be eating up risk in bear markets instead. The one good thing is it creates opportunities for bear market buyers.

because you never know when it's "low" or "high" regardless of how high or low it really is.

True, attempting to time the market is always risky business. But a bear market is easily defined and even easier to spot, so it's not hard to buy in a bear market. Don't be too concerned with buying at the absolute low or selling at the absolute high.

No. You can't identify the "real" bear or bull market, just like you can't determine whether today's price is low, or high. in the past five years alone, there have been many moments where the market can be interpreted either way.

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[zolace]

One thing I should add, I have been shifting a higher percentage of my TIA to emerging markets, especially Africa and other areas with expected high demographic growth. A lot of the stock market gains of the 20th century was fueled by demographic growth, as opposed to economic growth. With demographic growth now stagnant or negative in most developed economies, it seems to me that investing in places with expected high demographic growth is the only way to keep a get a good exposure to that area of growth.

[zolace]

real estate, stocks, anything?

the recession dealt quite a bit of damage to me. so i chickened out and mostly missed the boat.

i guess i will catch up with ya on the next downswing

I buy and hold index funds, so my performance has been almost exactly the same as the market. But I started a new, higher paying job in September 2008, so I had a lot of free cash flow and put every red cent I had into stocks (through index funds) when they were cheap. I timed the market in that respect.

I don't own any real estate, bonds or bond funds, individual stocks, precious metals, or anything else. The simple reason is that they are either more expensive, more work or have weaker performance than stocks, or all three (for example, in the case of real estate).

But of you bought a house you could live in it while waiting for it to turn profit. A house holds value a lot better than stocks. And even if the value goes down to a worthless level, you can still make use (and profit) of it unlike stocks .The key question is, when did you start investing

A residence is a nonperforming asset. It does not generate any profit. And the rate of return on residential real estate is vastly inferior to stocks--about half in real numbers, even lower in real return. That's not to mention the lack of liquidity in residential real estate and all of the taxes, upkeep, insurance, etc. It is also, as many learned in the past 6 years, among the least diversified and most risky ways to hold capital. 1992, but in a more serious way in 1996.

Residential real estate does provide a rental yield (profit), which can be attributed to a homeowner's returns. But real estate investors have a lot of delusion about the superiority of their (inferior) assets. Public equity does outperform residential real estate, and especially on a risk-adjusted basis, given the lack of scope for diversification in real estate investments.

The psyche of the average investor is a strange thing. Everyone knows that you should buy low and sell high and, as Buffett is always quoted, be greedy when everyone is scared and scared when everyone is greedy. But in practice people tend to do the exact opposite. They tend to be willing to take on more risk and buy more stock when prices are high, when they should be eating up risk in bear markets instead. The one good thing is it creates opportunities for bear market buyers.

because you never know when it's "low" or "high" regardless of how high or low it really is.

True, attempting to time the market is always risky business. But a bear market is easily defined and even easier to spot, so it's not hard to buy in a bear market. Don't be too concerned with buying at the absolute low or selling at the absolute high.

No. You can't identify the "real" bear or bull market, just like you can't determine whether today's price is low, or high. in the past five years alone, there have been many moments where the market can be interpreted either way.

Yes, you certainly can.

[umair127]

One thing I should add, I have been shifting a higher percentage of my TIA to emerging markets, especially Africa and other areas with expected high demographic growth. A lot of the stock market gains of the 20th century was fueled by demographic growth, as opposed to economic growth. With demographic growth now stagnant or negative in most developed economies, it seems to me that investing in places with expected high demographic growth is the only way to keep a get a good exposure to that area of growth.

Phoenix housing market is hitting a plateau. it was one of the leading bubbles during the last recession.another bubble?

[zolace]

in the past five years alone, there have been many moments where the market can be interpreted either way.

No, the market has been a bull market for that entire time. We are in a bull market now, and I will let you know when we reach a bear market.

[wasserman99]

One thing I should add, I have been shifting a higher percentage of my TIA to emerging markets, especially Africa and other areas with expected high demographic growth. A lot of the stock market gains of the 20th century was fueled by demographic growth, as opposed to economic growth. With demographic growth now stagnant or negative in most developed economies, it seems to me that investing in places with expected high demographic growth is the only way to keep a get a good exposure to that area of growth.

Phoenix housing market is hitting a plateau. it was one of the leading bubbles during the last recession.another bubble?

Many of the real estate markets that saw the greatest price appreciation during the last bubble (and the greatest price declines in the crash) are now seeing very rapid price appreciation. Generally speaking a plateau is not the sign of a bubble but rapid price appreciation is.

[Full Spectrum]

Back to op
Palladium has been a great investment, during 2008 it dropped to $200, currently its at the upper $900s. It's future looks extremely bright as its a crucial material needed in pollution control devices (Catalytic Converters)

[Possum577]

Stocks and mutual funds mostly. Last year was fantastic, I earned close to 30%, this year has been a slog, barely making 5%.

It's a tough time right now in the US stock market, things could be slow for a while or some good news could keep the market humming along. I'd be happy with 10% a year. The International (non US) stock market has been worse for a lot longer.

Bitcoin offers a nice alternative, for folks that have the stomach.

[wenben]

real estate, stocks, anything?

the recession dealt quite a bit of damage to me. so i chickened out and mostly missed the boat.

i guess i will catch up with ya on the next downswing

Many investors got wipe out and went under water during 2008.

I wouldn't expect those who get wipe out badly will trust the system easily again.

[LetsMakeItBTC]

Havent invested shit as I dont have enough stuff to risk with.

[iluvpie60]

real estate, stocks, anything?

the recession dealt quite a bit of damage to me. so i chickened out and mostly missed the boat.

i guess i will catch up with ya on the next downswing

i invested in btc and lost out for sure, i actually lost it cuz i accidentally hit max bet on Just Dice. i transferred it all over there as a panic move because cex.io introduced futures and i had no place to send it to fast at the time and i basically lost 6 or 7 btc total(all i mostly had).

now i am earning btc back with ad campaigns, give it a try!

[zeroday]

Gold, stocks, real estate, bitcoin.
Bitcoin has gained much more than the first three in my list.