A devotion to the horizontal means fewer postings and a more creative use of time so today's rant is a reply sent to an email I received regarding how a thirty year old might consider spreading his assets.
"1) Most honest brokers/market analysts believe that there are investments (non short selling) that are valid both outside the mainstream systems in the US and Britain and also elsewhere on the planet. For example, there is a vegan organic supermarket in Manchester called Unicorn that is immensely successful, political, and has achieved this with simply a great idea and hard work. When they began, they required start up capital. The green sector is bound to advance due to climate change concerns and slick people supported the project. This form of environmental micro investment is positive so long as one monitors the impact of the bigger operators eg Tesco as they muscle into the field. Generally though green is good for the foreseeable future. Close personal monitoring of such opportunities is key.
2) Young markets are also reasonably straight although investing in such areas is tricky without knowledge of the science behind a sector. However, a portfolio of minor investments in start-ups with great ideas and/or a technological edge is an earner. Obviously, these investments have a higher risk and are longer term but the rewards are significantly higher than markets where the info is already in the price.
3) Trading mature markets is also financially rewarding (whether football markets or financial). The advantage of these types of trades is that your money isn't tied up for so long. Dietrological Bronze clients traded on 5 games in this recent round of Internationals. Every trade won. The return on investment was 56%. If, for example, they had invested £2000 on each of these games, their £10K investment returns £15600. Compare with what this money could have achieved elsewhere and it is clear that professional trading in short-term truncated mature markets is very positive. Short selling mature stocks is also profitable but, unless you possess a proprietary analytical edge, I would advise extreme caution here. For instance, I believe the FTSE and Wall St are overpriced. I wish to sell but I have to remain patient with a percentage of my potential trade as the turning point is driven both by aggregate market group psychology and the wishes of the power loci people. Amateurish short selling is a very dangerous trading strategy.
4) Arbitrage trading and trading football in-running are two other very fast moving profit opportunities. The former is really only for trading organisations but the latter is easy money. Once a football match starts, all factors that were merely probabilities prior to the game become more concrete - eg motivation, the attitudes of corrupt players and officials etc. The markets can reveal significant inefficiencies in these cases.
5) Avoid any investments where you have to trust a psychopathic structure. The risk simply isn't worth it unless you are a greed merchant who thrives on shifting sands.
6) Mimic the successful - Goldman Sachs, Warren Buffett etc
7) Property is an earner as the system is set up for the power operators. Increases in house prices (prior to any housing bubble) is a one-way bet and represents an abusive redistribution of wealth from the poor without houses to the middle and upper classes with houses (as I have said before this is absolutely not wealth creation).
8) Without coming across as a luddite, control of overheads is a buzz. Every pound saved equals a pound earned with the added feelgood factor of denying a system it's slice of YOUR action. It helps you to feel more grounded too which enables clearer trading strategies to be developed overall. Take mobiles. Let's face it, they're all totally crap early stage of development consumerist items. I've got five and I occasionally use one. Try checking out the internet on a blackberry!? How much am I paying for sending a wind up photo back to Manchester of me lying on a yacht (not a true instance, by the way)? Why am I using this thing anyway? Next year, mobiles will go broadband when Wi-Max hits the ground running and, a few years later, broadband coverage will reach mountain tops. At that point, I'll get involved.
Without knowing more about your specific circumstances, it is tricky to suggest what a reasonable portfolio of these investments might look like. Obviously, children, family money, partner, current liabilities and savings are all valid inputs to a proper decision. Also, I do not know really where you place your personal risk threshold or where your ethical horizon might lie.
It is tempting to suggest that you purchase info from Dietrological and actively trade football markets as a part of your investment strategy but I would prefer that you consider your own life aims and goals holistically and reach the decision that is best for you and your family.
Remember i) that you don't really need that much to be safe and self-sufficient ii) I've never met a rich person who is happy iii) you can't take money and property to the grave iv) there's very few things that one actually needs.
Finally, be wary of systemic risk. For example, climate change may be addressed strategically by the planet's elite and all might be cool! But there is a long tail on the distribution of potential outcomes to the current climatic instability and, whether sceptics like it or not, on an atmospheric physics level there are some extreme potential futures when one undertakes scenario analysis. What is the use of a piece of paper in such circumstances? Think of what you would have preferred to have had your cash in in, say, 1929 with hindsight!"
© Football Is Fixed/Dietrological
