The Setup
If you’re wondering what to do with your money, you’re not alone. There are many choices today for people with money to invest and it can be difficult to make true apples to apples comparisons. The barrage of marketing and social media noise about this company versus that combines with our own intuition, family responsibilities and concern about the future to often lead to either paralysis by analysis or, effectively, paralysis by exasperation! Allow me in this two-part post to shed some light and make a case for why real estate beats stocks for investors.
Bring the Noise….
Make it stop!
We live in very technology-oriented society. Apple, Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Android, etc. We can stand on top of Diamond Head and buy shares of Disney while booking a flight to Las Vegas and video chatting with a friend in Paris — all from our phone. I’ve come a long way since my days of browsing the internet on 28.8 speed modems and playing video games on Ace of Cakes star Geof Manthorne‘s Atari (one of my childhood best friends).
The advent of social media networks means the instant transfer of information — both good and bad, useful and irrelevant. And destructive.
More so than ever, we need to equip ourselves to filter out the information we don’t need from the information that helps us make sound decisions. So, for the duration of this two-part post, let’s ignore the messages of the talking heads that hit us from every angle every day and focus just on straight up LOGIC.
They Meant Well, But…
Ok, but now what?
If you’re like me, you grew up with little financial education. In my high school, they taught us how to fill out a check. That’s about it – seriously! The other lessons we may have been taught growing up were mostly 1) save, and 2) invest in stocks. I venture to say that’s the bulk of financial education 101 for most people growing up in America. It’s the norm, and it’s very sad. The problem? The people giving us that message thought they themselves were right. We all know it’s not that simple, but we need to be careful of whose advice we take.
“Invest in stocks and, over time, your money will grow year after year until retirement when you find yourself with a large nest egg upon which you can retire.” And move somewhere nice. Like Hawaii, right? Unfortunately, people still largely view their investment choices as part of the big “triad”: stocks, bonds and mutual funds.
And that’s where the blinders need to come off. Because real estate offers benefits that stocks just can’t compete with. In fact, the reasons why real estate beats stocks for investors are numerous.
Today was the setup (I know, I’m such a tease). Tomorrow, I’ll publish the actual list of reasons that may sway you to broaden your horizons, expand your investing vision and, perhaps most importantly, take control of your financial future away from the unforeseen whims of a market beyond our control.
BOOKMARK THIS PAGE AND COME BACK TOMORROW for Part 2!