My dad bought potatoes, because somebody told him to buy them, put them in cold storage and told him that they will go up in value. Ha Ha… Fill in the rest. Sure enough, cold storage guy made money.
You can “invest” in anything today. You can invest in treasuries (least perishable) to orange juice. Wait! Why should you invest in orange juice? I thought investment is for long term. Does OJ really stay good long term? Have you tried drinking frozen oj? It is disgusting!
You can invest in natural gas. The cost of storing natural gas is almost 10% (including leakages). Do you really expect that it will go up more than 10% a month in your investment horizon.
They invented these funny instruments called double shorts that you can buy in your 401K. So that you can make money when markets go down. Markets did go down, just google on internet and find out who made money.
I bought munis. Great investments. Secure, liquid. But, when I tried to sell them, they told me it is off the run. So, not liquid anymore. Who made the money?
The famous AAA super senior sub-prime CDOs. Who made the money again?
Have you ever bought an insurance which when you needed it, they told you that you didn’t buy insurance with right options.
Do they tell you how much they will get paid from doing the deal with you?
Do you really think you will benefit by investing in mutual funds? Have you looked at how much they make?
Do you really have this nice advisor who buys you 35c donut and 50c coffee so that he can advise you what to do with your money. What does he know that you don’t?
Just ask, who is making the money? And what is their incentive to tell you if a particular transaction is bad for you? And based on your own answer, decide!