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A friend asked me during the week where he could “park” some cash while he was tossing up possible renovation plans for his home. A similar situation might be faced by those saving for a home deposit or who already have a deposit and are waiting for home prices to fall before jumping in to buy.
The first suggestion that comes to mind would be to focus on removing volatility from any possible investment (and in doing so reducing risk). In particular, a serious look at investing for income is definitely warranted. So what is investing for income?
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The most commonly understood way to earn income from an investment is through cash and fixed interest style investments. The common thread between these investments is that they pay regular interest payments over time while the initial value of the investment does not grow.
At the moment these style of investments are offering relatively strong returns. The Weekend Australian Financial Review provided a good summary of some of the better returning cash and fixed interest style investments. They firstly looked at cash accounts with the most compelling options those provided by online saving accounts. The top three were Bankwest 8.25%, RaboPlus 8.00%, ING Direct 8.00% (It should be noted that these are introductory offers but still great returns.)
The great benefit of cash is that it is easily converted into money that can be used to purchase goods and services. In financial terms these investments are highly liquid. You are also very confident that you will not lose any of the initial investment along the way. The major risk is that while this money is sitting in cash, alternative investments are providing a higher rate of return.
The next in the pure income line of investments are term deposits. For agreeing to lock your money up with a financial institution for a given term, the institution pays you a slightly higher return compared to deposit accounts. It was interesting to note in the AFR article that not until terms of at least 90 days were the rates above or equal to the rates offered by the top online savings accounts. Basically what the current rates are telling us is that an investor is not compensated for having money locked away for less than a 3 month term. The major risks with this type of investment is that you either need the money before the end of the term or interest rates in the economy increase meaning that your money could be yielding higher levels of income elsewhere (for the same level of risk).
The third basic category is fixed interest securities otherwise known as government or corporate bonds. Investors purchase these investments with the issuer promising to pay a particular rate of return over a given term with the initial investment being returned to the investor at the completion of the term. Bonds are traded and therefore once issued may move up or down in price. These changes are most likely caused by changes of interest rates in the economy or a change in the likelihood of the issuer meeting its repayments on the bond. The major risks therefore are that interest rates in the economy increase causing the price of the bond to fall in value also meaning you could get better returns elsewhere or the issuer is unable to make the payments as required. (More about this default risk later).
From here we move to less traditional cash and fixed interest securities.
In between the pure fixed interest investments and growth assets, like shares and listed property, are what are known as hybrids. These are bond-like offerings which provide regular income payments but have equity characteristics. Should a company collapse, holders of these securities are treated like shareholders and their claims come after the claims of debt holders (bond holders). You therefore should expect to be paid higher rates of income compared to bond holders. For more information on an example of this style of security take a look at Scott Francis’ recent Eureka Report article – Suncorp offering with a bonus.
The clear risks with hybrids are that the company will not be able to make the payments however one risk that is removed is that of interest rate movements. The products tend to have a floating rate tied to a relevant cash rate. At the moment the premium above the cash rate is high as the credit market is tight and companies have to pay more to secure your money.
Then we come to the property sector. Most people invest in property to hopefully see the value of the property grow. However, there is also the benefit of receiving rent provided by tenants. We access property exposure in our portfolios through listed property trusts. Latest figures put income from listed property at 8 or 9%. However, it should be noted that there has also been a significant depreciation in the value of listed property trusts over the past year, the worst year in history. Therefore the major risk of utilising property investments for income is that the price of the investment will fall in value.
Finally, the last major income producing investments are shares. Again, many investors get caught up in the growth side of the share return story while forgetting the income being provided through dividends paid by companies. This story is particularly attractive in the Australian context thanks to the dividend imputation tax system whereby companies are able to pass on dividends that effectively have already been taxed at 30% before reaching the investor.
The AFR article on the weekend provided some interesting figures regarding dividend yields. Historically companies in Australia have paid yields for industrial stocks averaging 5.2% since 1961. Goldman Sachs JB Were are predicting yields of 5.9% for the year up from 5.6% last year. Macquarie Research forecast 6.1% for the current year increasing to 6.4% in the following. This gradual increase in dividends being received by investors is a real benefit of these investments that is often forgotten. Of course the recent plunge in sharemarkets have detracted from shares as investments but if you are willing to hang on and wait for share prices to rise, this level of income being paid is nothing to be sneezed at especially given the tax benefits of fully franked dividends.
Across all of the income producing investments there is an underlying risk that the holder of your cash, including shares, will not be able to return it when required. i.e. they default on returning the money you have loaned them. The greater the risk of this occurring, the higher the return that should be expected by investors. Groups like Standard & Poors help determine this risk by providing ratings of the underlying products and companies. Having consideration of the rating of a product or company is key to assessing whether the investment is suitable for you. It is interesting to note that the best yielding income investment mentioned in the AFR article was the Babcock & Brown Infrastructure EPS (BEPPA) returning 23%. The recent news surrounding Babcock & Brown show that this is indeed a riskier style of investment.
For more information on this topic, Vanguard have produced a really clear explanation of Investing for Income in their Plain Talk library which is well worth a look.
Regards,Scott Keefer
Scott Keefer has been a partner in the business since January 2007. He has completed a number of degrees related to financial management including a Masters of Financial Planning and Bachelor of Commerce. He also holds a Graduate Diploma of Education.
Prior to joining the business, Scott was involved in secondary education where he held middle management positions in schools in Brisbane and Jakarta, Indonesia. Part of these experiences involved teaching Indonesian students about Business Management and Economics principles as relate to the Australian context.
Scott is a co-author of the book ‘It’s Time You Knew the Truth: Building Investment Portfolios That Work’. He also shares a passion to work with people at all different stages of the financial planning process helping them to build successful financial solutions through well structured investment portfolios. Scott is working towards authorised representative status which will be in place later this year. His current role in the business is to oversee administrative functions including initial preparation of client statements of advice and placement of investments.
High Return Investments Naples
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Safe High Return Investments Naples
Alternative Investments are the new safe way to invest your money. They are less risky and more secure investment ideas that investment companies have come up with to offer investors. Alternative Investments are a low risk and have less chance of failure. Alternative Investments can offer the investor a way to invest their money and eliminate the fear factor of the investment itself failing. For example, in the standard tradition of investing, an investor would maybe go to a stock broker and write them a check and then everyday for the next three years check the stock reports to see if their stock was performing well. They would have to worry if the stock would bottom out or the company would fail or get sold or many other bad things that could happen to the stock. The stock may go for roller coaster rides up and down many times. This would cause the investor great anxiety on a daily basis.
Alternative Investments are a financial solution to this problem. So, what is an Alternative Investment? One example is a Real Estate IRA retirement plan. This type of Alternative Investment is where an investment company places your money in a Real Estate property along with other investor’s money and as the property makes money, you get a monthly dividend which can be direct deposited into your bank account. This Real Estate IRA Alternative Investment is a much safer way to invest your money than the normal investment avenues such as the stock market.With an Alternative Investments Real Estate IRA retirement plan, you remove worry and anxiety from your investment experience and allow yourself to enjoy the simple act of investing your money and collecting the profits. It’s a very smart and logical way to invest. Why have an investment that causes you much grief on a daily basis when an Alternative Investment such as a Real Estate IRA can make investing a more pleasant and financially rewarding process. By removing the danger of worrying about your investment during your day to day routine, you now can focus on your life and feel good about making money which is the point anyway. Alternative Investments and Real Estate IRA plans are a good idea and the future is now for this type of investing.
The best advice is to find an investment firm that offers Alternative Investments. I did a search and found EQlibrium Investments at http://www.eqlibrium.com/ . They did have my example of a Real Estate IRA at http://www.eqlibrium.com/products/real-estate-ira-401k.asp and Alternative Investments at http://www.eqlibrium.com/products/alternative-investments.asp ..
Linton Kane writes about financial topics.
High Return Investments Naples
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Safe High Return Investments Naples
Sharia-Compliant Fund Providing Extremely Low Risk Investments and Consistent Annual Double Digit returns for 10 – 20 – 30 Years!Cabal Capital Management, LLC announces the launch of the Legacy Fund which provides special alternative investment opportunities into extremely low risk, and very high financial return Advanced High Income Generation Projects through direct investments.
This fund which is not a private equity fund and is Sharia-Compliant is unlike all other investment pool funds, hedge funds, etc. that exist today by offering investments that are focused on both strategic and tactical investment opportunities into Highly Advanced Income Generating Project(s) producing crucial and vital, very high demand commercially valued product(s) that are being sold directly into the largest “Major” Consumer Universal Demand Markets in the world. These investments allow risk adverse accredited investors the ability to participate in the revenues generated from these projects which allows for and achieves both capital growth and preservation, while providing the investor an extremely low risk opportunity with the benefit of dependable and sustainable alpha generation and the long term growth from these projects. These fully integrated projects have been designed to last 40 to 50 years or longer for their life cycles regardless of the global financial and credit markets.
Our fund is well positioned to effectively tap into these markets to the benefits of our investors. The growth dynamics of the United States and Western Europe is based upon local, regional and domestic consumption of all the products these projects produce. This fund is targeting routine and consistent annual double digit returns (15 – 21%) to investors un-correlated to all securities, commodities, currencies and the credit markets themselves since there will not be any exposure to these markets. All project investments within this special investment vehicle have been specifically developed and designed to perform across various business cycles regardless of global economic conditions to include recessionary and depressionary environments as well.
The current global credit crisis, current stock market contractions and wild swings in the commodities markets does not and will not impact our ability to produce consistent annual double digit returns now or in the future for our investors since we will never have, need or rely on the credit markets to establish margin accounts or leveraged positions which most all hedge fund type investment vehicles require to operate. We do not require nor will we ever utilize prime services which the large investment banks provide (Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, etc.). We do not rely on the stock, commodity or currency exchanges to generate income since we can not control any of the events occurring in those exchanges for our investors, thus we are totally un-correlated to all securities, commodities, currencies and credit markets.
In the case of Deflationary and Inflationary Markets, they will have no real effect on these projects and the products they produce. Coincidentally inflation will only increase the value of the products coming out of the projects. Deflationary markets will have very minimal impact on the products produced within these projects since these products are and always will be vital for any country to maintain a stable economy, thus they will always be in very high demand through out the world regardless of the global economic conditions.
Risk issues are always addressed through risk management and the review procedures for each and every investment made. Unlike most projects which have been developed, planned and master planned, every assumption for each project invested in has been tested, validated, verified and proven or it’s not incorporated into these project(s). Each and every project is also backed up by a detailed Input / Output Financial Cash Model which is a detailed Program / Project Financial Blueprint that shows the quarterly inter-relationships of investments, operational production revenues, operational expenses at all levels, taxes, imposts and fees, special circumstances events, and financial obligations during the life of the Program / Project.
Since energy production and consumption is the key element to any industrialized country, and with energy consumption increasing globally at an annual rate of 5 – 6 %, energy is and always will be vital to both the U.S. and Western European Economies. Allocating to Energy and Bio-Fuels production are two major key areas of involvement and investments within our seven pronged program investment strategies approach, which consists of the following options available to us: Energy: Oil & Gas (Example Project to follow), Bio Fuels: Algae Based Bio-Diesel and Jatropha Curcas {plant} direct fuel source. Algae Based Bio-Diesel is a direct fuel source currently available and ready for full scale production and delivery {This is Direct Fuel Source and is not a blend for gasoline or other fuel sources!} Algae Based Bio-Diesel Fuel production utilizes proprietary photo enhanced, micro nutrient enhanced, continuous flow, automated, sensor quality controlled, bio-chemical industrial processes and then are pressed, centrifuged, oils separated from water, water treated, cooked, cracked and treated all within a 12 hour cycle (Start to Finish) to complete one batch made ready for use in any diesel engine. Initially 270 Million Gallons per quarter to several Billion Gallons of bio-diesel per quarter will be produced depending upon the initial size of a project program. This Algae Based Bio-Diesel Fuel source has a Cetane Rating of 105 -117 compared to 80 – 85 Cetane Rating for #1 diesel fuel currently produced by all the major oil companies, which provides more power, better millage and performance while emitting 60 – 70% less emissions across the board vs. normal standard crude oil based diesel fuels. This Algae Based Bio-Diesel product emits no sulfur and or nitrogen into the atmosphere, Alternative Energy: Solar / Concentrated Solar Thermal Power Production, Wind and Electric Fuel Cell Systems, Natural Resources: Gold, Platinum and other Precious Metals Groups and Diamond Mining: Refining, Assaying, Separation using advanced physical technologies and Bullion production of Gold and Platinum as well as Processing, Cutting, Valuation Appraisals of Diamonds and other Precious Stones, Water: Proprietary Water Science / Technology to Produce Fresh Drinking Water to meet Agricultural, Industrial and Human Public Health needs in critically water short areas through Water production, bottling facilities and distribution. This can be accomplished with any available water supply {in ground water tables, above and below ground reservoirs with a high saline content normally not recommended for human consumption}, Sea Waters & Brackish Waters anywhere Globally, Hydroponics: Food Production: Fish Shrimp, Prawns, Fruits Vegetables utilizing USDA inspectors to garner Grade A Choice Status to include direct marketing into Major U.S.A. and International Consumer Demand Markets, and Special Opportunities: Aviation Fuels: JP-1 to JP-12 for Commercial and Military Applications from Algae Based Direct Fuel Sources as well as Advanced Hyper-Speed Information Technologies and other Advanced High Income Generation Project Opportunities as they become available.
It should be noted that traditional large project investments consist normally of only one income generation production element and typically requires three years at the earliest before the investors see any type of modest return on their investment. Our projects produce immediate results in the first year due to their very nature and global demand. These Exclusive World Class Projects which are available to us for investments have no less than 2, but normally include 5 or more Major Integrated Income Production Elements within each project. It should also be noted that each income producing element within these projects are so strong that they could stand on their own and support the entire project, which is why many of these elements are developed together to form an Advanced Integrated Income Generation Project depending upon the requirements and location of the program.
All of the projects that this special opportunity fund invests in involve Proprietary Advanced Technologies and Advanced Physical Science / Processes (not known to the great majority of Asset Manager Companies Staffs). Other types of investment pool managers, hedge funds, etc. do not know or even have access to these world class development engineering people and the technologies assets and projects that they develop, implement and manage. Currently we have in excess of $10 Billion Dollars worth of Advanced High Income Generation Projects available to us for investments.
These projects are developed, implemented and managed by Highly Reliable, Senior Internationally Experienced Technical Managers, Senior Science Managers and Senior Logistics / Project Security Management Staff. There are in excess of 300 Top Level Executive Technical Managers with over 30 years of Experience in each of their perspective Development Sectors available for all projects that our fund invests in. These projects are designed to insure extreme depth of expertise and experience management which is available to any project at any and every stage of the project program, regardless of location of the project anywhere globally.
We understand that most Investors, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Major International Banks, Hedge Funds, Fund of Funds, Private Equity Funds and others do not have the technical resources, capability, background and or understanding to evaluate, determine and differentiate between good and bad Large Advanced High Income Generation Projects, Project Developers, Project Implementation Capability and Management of Highly Integrated Multiple Income Steam Revenue Generation Projects.
This is the strength of the Asset Manager and where he excels; during the past several years he has been mentored, tutored and trained by some of the oldest and most highly respected, responsible, highly sought after and experienced Development Engineers who have planned, master planned, developed, managed, evaluated and trouble shot Economic Development Projects, Strong Multiple Stream Income Generation Projects, conducted Nation Building and Humanitarian Projects in over 65 countries during the past 40 years. The training he has received allows him to thoroughly review, comprehend and evaluate Project Development, Project Implementation, Logistics, Security and Management of these projects as well as the risk management associated with each potential investment. This process has provided him with the understanding, knowledge and insights of Project Development, Implementation, Logistics Operations and Infrastructure development of large income generation projects to determine unequivocally, which Highly Advanced Income Production Projects are viable and which ones are questionable investments at best.
Another Special Note of consideration is that each investment will bring with it potential tax advantages not typically found with other types of investments. Depending on where the project(s) are located and how the project are legally structured and set up (Development Corporations, Development Authorities, etc. which are authorized by local, state or federal governments) could result in tremendous tax advantages, which each investors tax advisor will need to qualify and determine the best approach for each investors own tax liabilities depending upon their current tax status, situation and strategies.
The results of this Special Investment Vehicle fund are highly advantageous investment opportunities that by far exceed the majority of investment opportunities available to investors from a financial return as well as extremely low risk standpoint by investing in Outstanding Advanced High Income Generation Projects carried out by highly reliable and responsible individuals and organizations.
Face to face meetings are welcomed and encouraged in order to qualify, verify and validate these investment opportunities which stem from the Americana way of project development and implementation with the application of Science, Engineering, Logistics, Security and Management which dates back to over 200 Years during the American Expansion of the United States of America. Never before in the history of mankind has the shear number and sizes of these Consumer Universal Demand Markets been in place and more importantly, primed and ready to handle and accept these vital, crucial and very high demand, commercially valued products coming from these projects.
Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Cabal Capital Management, L.L.C. is managed by Kent Sullivan: www.cabalcapitalmanagement.com
** Fully Integrated Dual Element – Oil & Gas / Real Example Project **
This Oil & Gas production program is headed up by a Top Level Senior International Consultant who is an Oil and Gas Industry Executive which has been involved in the Oil & Gas Industry over the past 50 years. This Oil & Gas Executive is the Systems Developer, Scientist, Equipment Designer and Engineer who is recognized as an expert in his field by the U.S. Department of Energy who also has called him upon him frequently in the past to trouble shoot particular Oil and Gas fields as a technical advisor and as a trouble shooter to rectify any and all problems associated with troubled oil and gas production fields.
This Top Senior International Consultant has a proprietary and proven 12 step methodology for siting, drilling, completing and production techniques for all wells. He has a historical commercial success rate of 92% for bringing in all of his wells sited, drilled, completed and producing which also has a normal life span of 15 to 20 plus year’s worth of production.
This Advanced High Income Generation Oil and Gas project is comprised of the following: A Top Down Electric Air Hammer System which is highly sensorized with Professional Engineers and Scientists managing all operational positions. These auto sensor rigs provide detailed information by satellite to a centralized operations and training center where all decisions are made by people with 45 – 50 years of successful completion and production experience.
Each oil and gas well completed will be drilled in both soft and hard rock beds and will vary in depths from 3,000 feet to over 13,000 feet. All wells in this program will be completed initially in the state of Texas, in the United States of America.
Typical production wells will produce 60 barrels of oil per day to 500 – 600 barrels of oil per day and the gas wells will produce in a typical range of 2 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to in excess of 20 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. The total net operating investment will be returned within 4 months of production for each well.
Multiple producing formations will be completed and isolated with proprietary tools and instruments which will be operated simultaneously through out the life of the wells. The typical life of these well are 15 – 20 years because of the 12 different proprietary methods used for siting, drilling, completion and production techniques, tools, proprietary materials and instruments used on each and every well which prevents formation damage and increases the life cycle of each well to maximize the highest production obtainable.
This program consists of hundreds of oil and gas wells sited, drilled, completed and in production within a 1 – 2 year period. These wells will be sited, drilled and completed in historically very well known and documented oil and gas producing formations within the state of Texas, in the United States of America.
Investors will receive an estimated 15 – 21% annual return per year on their investment, with payments coming at the end of each year from this program. The threshold investment will be an aggregate amount of $400 hundred million dollars which is what the minimum program investment calls for. A $10 Million dollar minimum investment is the entry point for this program, with all others being on a case by case basis.
Estimated program revenues are based on $60 dollars a barrel and $6.5 dollars per thousand cubic foot of natural gas. Over the last year crude oil (West Texas Intermediate) has sold as low as $50 dollars a barrel up to as much as $147 dollars a barrel. Over the past year natural gas has sold from $5.5 dollars a thousand cubic foot to $11.3 dollars per thousand cubic foot.
Example Oil & Gas Well Profile: One well; properly sited, drilled, completed and producing will conservatively produce 100 barrels of oil per day and 4 million cubic foot of natural gas per day. This provides the overall program (100 barrels x $60 per barrel = $6,000) $6,000 dollars per day of revenue. Each 4,000 cubic foot of natural gas (4,000 x $6.5 per thousand cubic foot = $26,000) $26,000 dollars per day of revenue. Total revenue for this example is estimated at $32,000 dollars per day of program revenue for this example.
** All wells in this program will not produce the same **
Each month this represents a program return of (30 days x $32,000 = $960,000) $960,000 dollars of revenue coming from this one (1) example well. The investment program we are offering involve several hundreds of program wells being sited, drilled, completed and operating within a 1 to 2 year period.
Remember, this is only two elements of a fully integrated Advanced High Income Generation Project which will involve in most cases several other elements (normally 5 or more) to generate very substantial amounts of revenues over the course of the project life. With the combination of several other Advanced High Income Generation Elements within one project, this will enhance the financial returns and revenues of the program itself, and thus will also greatly reduce and virtually eliminate any associated risk due to the diversification of the different Major Income Generation elements within each project.
Once again, the result of this Special Investment Vehicle fund are highly advantageous investment opportunities that by far exceed the majority of investment opportunities from a financial return and an extremely low risk standpoint by investing in Outstanding Advanced High Income Generation Projects.
Headquartered in San Antonio, Texas, Cabal Capital Management, L.L.C. is managed by Kent Sullivan: www.cabalcapitalmanagement.com
Providing Consistent Annual Double Digit Returns for 10-20-30-40 Years or more on Extremely Low Risk Investments in Multiple Stream – Highly Advanced Income Generation Projects through direct investments.
info@cabalcapitalmanagement.com
High Return Investments Naples
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Intended Audience
Individuals looking to purchase a home for personal use or as an investment. As well, looking into conventional wisdom’s statement that buying a house is one of the best investments someone can make.
Summary Points to Take Away
Analysis
Conventional wisdom states that buying a house is one of the smartest and best investments an individual can make. This article is geared towards challenging this conclusion to see whether this statement rears any truth to it.
Why a House is a Good Investment?
Forced Savings Plan
Most individuals claim that the purchase of their personal home was the best investment they’ve ever made, which is true in most cases because it is the only investment they’ve ever made. The general public struggles with saving for retirement; thus, purchasing a house assists in that problem as it forces individuals to continuously pay down the mortgage (or lose the house in a foreclosure to the bank); therefore, allows the storing of equity for the owners. This built up equity (i.e. market value of home minus remaining mortgage) can be borrowed against during their retirement years or they can downgrad into a less expensive house in order to provide some retirement funds to the owner. If individuals take a disciplined approach to saving, then the benefit of being forced to save in order to pay for a house diminishes
Leverage
Typical real estate purchase require only a 5% deposit, while the remaining amount can be borrowed through bank debt. Few alternative investments outside of real estate can the acquirer obtain such significant leverage, which can enhance investment returns.
Example, suppose that you purchased a home for $200k, for which you made a 5% deposit down ($10k). During the next few years the house appreciates in value and you sell it for $220k (10% higher than the level you purchased it). Though the return on the house is only 10%, the return to the investor based on invested funds sunk into the home ($10k) is 200% ($20k earned over $10k investment) – that is the power of leverage. On the negative side, more debt means higher fixed monthly mortgage payments; thus, higher risk of being able to make the monthly mortgage payments. As long as cash flow is not a concern and the mortgage payments can be met – investments should be leveraged to maximize returns to the investor. Could you imagine walking into a bank and asking for $100k to invest in equities while only putting 5% down – likely to never happen, this is a major benefit of real estate ownership.
Inflation Resistant
Real estate holds its value during inflationary periods; thus, acts as a hedge against the investors other assets that aren’t protective against inflation (ex. Currency). The asset will continue to hold its buying power (store of value), which is difficult to get outside of investing in precious metals. The reason real estate holds its value is there is the same number of houses that the increased monetary supply of dollars are chasing; thus, it’ll take more dollars to purchase the houses as the supply of houses stays stagnate while the demand rises (due to the increase in the number of dollars in everyone’s hands). This can become critical given the current economic times and numerous expansions of monetary supply across many nations, which will have the aftermath affect of higher inflation.
Capital Gain is Tax FreeIn Canada, every home owner is provided with a capital gain exemption on amounts earned in excess of cost for their principal residence. Only one piece of real estate can be claimed as the principal residence per individual. For example, if you owned a home and a cottage, only one of those houses upon selling could take advantage of the principal residence exemption. No other asset class has such advantageous tax reduction characteristics. Unfortunately this is a onetime event; thus, those holding numerous pieces of real estate can only apply it to one property.
Allows for Control over the Asset
Real estate is typically an investment an individual has control over (assuming you’re the majority owner – which is typically the case) by the means of the owner has the ability to increase the value of the asset, which may not be the case in most other investment opportunities. When purchasing real estate, owners can make capital improvements to the home (ex. Finished basement, new porch, etc.), which will increase the value of the property (capital appreciation) as compared to purchasing stocks or mutual funds as assets where the owner can’t take action to increase the value of those assets (unless they’re a significant owner, greater than 20% – which is typically unlikely). The ability to control an asset adds value to the owner through what is known as a control premium, as a real estate asset may be more valuable in the hands of some individuals over others.
Why a House is a Bad Investment
Lack of Diversification
Average individual thinks the stock market is very risky while investing in real estate is more of a certainty. Purchasing equities allows the owner to conveniently hedge their risk amongst various companies in numerous industries, countries, etc. The purchase of real estate doesn’t provide the ability to diversify risk away as easily unless an investor plans on owning numerous pieces of different types of properties (ex. residential, commercial, resorts, etc) across various markets (North America, Europe, etc) – which is probably very unlikely for the average investor. Purchasing real estate prevents the diversification of risk because it’s dependent on the economic, migration, and regulation trends of the local area.
For example, assume you purchased a home in Oshawa, Ontario – which is a town extremely reliant on the large manufacturing facility of General Motors (GM). Should GM cut back on production or move their facility housing prices would fall sharply as it is the biggest employer in the area; thus, demand from individuals will decline as unemployment rises and real incomes fall. With a decline in demand and supply staying stagnate (as you typically can’t “un-build” a house once it’s constructed) the price will have to shift towards in order to align demand with supply.
Real estate doesn’t allow the investor to diversify away the specific risks in the local area as compared to purchasing equities, which allows the investor to spread risk amongst investments that perform differently during different points along the business cycle. Most individuals when purchasing real estate have all their eggs in one basket.
Maintenance Costs
Transaction and maintenance costs are significantly higher for real estate investments than stocks, mutual funds, etc. When purchasing stocks costs are typically broker commissions ($20 per transaction if using an online discount broker), while when purchasing a home it is typically 2% commission on the transaction value, significantly higher than purchasing equities.
Once you purchase shares, no further cash is required from the investor unlike real estate, which requires constant annual expenditures that continue to increase the investors cash committed towards the property, such as property taxes, insurance, utilities, maintenance and repairs of the asset, etc. These are costs that real estate investors or home purchasers don’t factor into their expected return, but play a significant role as the payment of property taxes (etc.) doesn’t contribute to the value of the property for eventual sale in the hopes of capital appreciation.
Historical Lower Returns Compared to Equities
During any 20 year period throughout history, no other asset class has outperformed equities, which includes real estate. This is from the perspective of asset vs. asset without consideration of leverage and how that may enhance returns (as discussed earlier). While it is true that over the long run real estate prices go up in value, this is typically due to inflation incurred. Recent spikes in housing prices seen in the past 10 to 15 years has been due to changing demographics, specifically the baby boomer generation (who makes up largest segment of the population in North America) go through life stages at the same time (same goes for starting a family and purchasing a home and real estate investment property). The result was a large influx in demand without a corresponding increase in supply as construction requires lead time; thus, leading to rising real estate prices.
Will this high demand continue? That’s where the argument lies. Likely there will be softness felt in overall real estate demand as baby boomers already have their homes and they’re likely to either stay put, move to retirement homes or downgrade into a smaller place in order to obtain some retirement income. Immigration will continue into North America that will prop up demand, but likely not the extent to fulfill the whole in demand left by the baby boomer generation; therefore, the future appreciation in real estate properties is likely to flatten out.
Can’t Take Advantage of Available Opportunities
The purchase of a home or real estate property requires the individual to tie up a significant portion of their net worth into the property (in a lot of cases, all of it). Having all your net worth in real estate is a risky strategy as you’ll be severely impacted by movements in real estate prices as compared to having your cash tied up into several asset classes; thus, less vulnerable to swings in any one asset class. Similar to the discussion had under the “diversification” section of this article.
With the majority of an investors net worth tied up in a real estate property, there isn’t available cash to take advantage of other opportunities that come along; thus, significant opportunity costs are involved in venturing into real estate. This should be considered before purchasing an expensive personal home or making a real estate investment.
Limited Scope
Real estate is a local good, unlike gold for example – which can be bought and sold throughout the year for the same market price. An individual looking to buy a personal home or make a real estate investment doesn’t have access to all available properties as there are physical limitations to contend with. It comes down to wanting to live where you grew up or currently work or not wanting to buy a rental property far from your home in order to reduce logistical issues. For example, if you live in Toronto, Ontario and are looking to make an investment in a rental property, you’re unlikely to consider properties in Paris, France though the opportunities may be better than those surrounding Toronto due to language and logistic issues. Equities (and etc.) are globally traded and available; thus, users can take advantage of opportunities around the world; thus, their scope is not limited to the local area of their current surroundings like real estate is.
Additional Points to consider if you’re purchasing a Home for Personal Use.
Doesn’t Provide Any Cash Flow
An asset typically provides you with cash flow, i.e. puts cash in your pocket. When purchasing a home, cash only flows out (property taxes, repairs, etc.); some would argue that if it appreciates in value then it is an asset. In this instance it is only an asset when converted into cash and if that is the case, where will you live? Likely end up buying a new house, which has also gone up in value similar to your house. This makes it difficult to realize the value of your personal home appreciation, which acts more like a liability than an asset since it takes cash out of your pocket instead of putting some in there.
Tax Deductibility of Interest
Interest expense paid due to bank loans taken to finance investment properties is deductable against income because the investor is pursuing income and tax legislation allows deduction of any expenses incurred in the pursuit of income. This is not the case for a mortgage taken out to purchase a house for personal use as the individual is not in the pursuit of income; thus, interest expense is paid with after tax dollars, with no tax shelter provided. If those funds had been borrowed to invest in equities or mutual funds, the interest would be deductable because again that would count towards the theme of pursuing income.
Can Get Personal Joy Out of It
Unlike equities and other alternative investments, the investor can’t personally use or get joy out of it as compared to purchasing a home, which the individual can live in and enjoy during the investment process. An investor who purchases shares in General Motors (GM) can’t exactly borrow and test drive cars whenever they please simply because they’re a part owner. This is a qualitative benefit that is difficult to quantify, but should be considered.
Where to go from here?
The main reason to purchase a house is to have somewhere to live and enjoy their life, don’t think of it as an investment. Buying a home isn’t a bad decision; it is the investor’s perception that may be tainted because it is important to realize that there are many arguments against a home as an investment to be considered. Don’t buy real estate property with the mindset that an individual can’t lose and that there is no better investment opportunity than to purchase a home, etc. Beware of conventional wisdom that states there is no better investment than purchasing a house.
THANKS,
SIMON GIANNAKIS
Simon Giannakis is the founder and creator of www.THATSTOCKGUY.NET. He currently is a Senior Accountant within the Assurance and Advisory group at Deloitte & Touche LLP in Toronto, Ontario. He has a BBA degree from Wilfrid Laurier University and is currently pursuing both CA and CFA designations. Simon can be contacted through thatstockguy.net@gmail.com. IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO CONTRIBUTE AN ARTICLE TO THATSTOCKGUY.NET, PLEASE CONTACT US.
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