It's a US government bond, not a whole lot of room for scamming. The I-Bond rate consists of 2 components. A fixed interest rate you get for the life of the bond, and an adjustable interest rate based on the current inflation index. The adjustable rate changes every 6 months. Downsides are the 1 year minimum holding period (if you cash out before 5 years you forfeit your last 3 months of interest).

From

http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov/sav/sbirate2.htm

Note the lowest interest rates in the last 8 years have been basically tied to when the federal prime rate was at its low. Meaning presumably in May rates should increase since we've had some nice sized rate hikes in the last 6 months. If anyone has some older data than this maybe there's a catch somewhere but thus far it seems like they beat other bonds by a few percentage points.

NOV 2005 - APR 2006 6.73%
MAY 2005 - OCT 2005 6.93%
NOV 2004 - APR 2005 6.73%
MAY 2004 - OCT 2004 6.73%
NOV 2003 - APR 2004 6.83%
MAY 2003 - OCT 2003 6.83%
NOV 2002 - APR 2003 7.35%
MAY 2002 - OCT 2002 7.76%
NOV 2001 - APR 2002 7.76%
MAY 2001 - OCT 2001 8.79%
NOV 2000 - APR 2001 9.20%
MAY 2000 - OCT 2000 9.40%
NOV 1999 - APR 2000 9.20%
MAY 1999 - OCT 1999 9.09%
NOV 1998 - APR 1999 9.09%
SEP 1998 - OCT 1998 9.20%

Invest in Tim Hortons!

David - for the same reason factories that produce goods dont sell them also, It's not what they do. I wouldnt look at it in terms of them using you, I would look at it as them giving you what you wanted but partially on their terms espeically since you approach them for money and not vice versa.

A lot of hedge funds do real estate, as do investment banks. Traditional retail banks just want to get as many deposits as possible and make money off the float. They charge you 7% for a mortgage, but pay 1% for the deposit, so they are basically making 7x their money. Why would they do real estate when they can do this?

With real estate, you make money from LEVERAGE. You do not make money from paying cash for property, which is what a bank would do. Grade A real estate would return about 6% plus 3% per year average in appreciation, but when you add leverage in the mix, those amounts are tripled. It is no different than buying stocks on margin or using options.

Your average retail investor who can only put $15k/yr into their IRA should stick to ETF's. But if you have $200k to invest, *commercial* real estate is a better option. Residential real estate is too speculative and property values are too subjective. (high priced) commercial real estate values are based on the property's income, nothing more!

One good option for the retail investor might be to buy some real estate ETF's or some REITs that own propery in stable, boring markets, although REIT's usually only leverage 50%, so there isn't as much a return as if you did it yourself.

an example of an investment bank doing real estate:

http://www.goldmansachs.com/client_s...ing/index.html

If I had that much cash to invest I'd buy a Japanese mutual fund. (Ie, a fund that contains all Jap corps.) Japan has been in recession for like 15 years now, they are just coming out of it, should boom good over the next 10 years. Might want to spread that out over an Indian fund or Brazilian fund, too.

Good luck with it.

good info boys

Yes, some hedge funds do real estate, as do some specialized investment firms ("sale and lease back"). However, this has not much in common of what regional shit banks promise to hard working families or naive hobby investors. My post was intended to open the eyes of some people who believe in "risk free" profits when buying 3 apartments with 10% money down while dreaming nothing can go wrong. After signing contracts they already take on a 5 year lease for a brandnew SL500 with yet-to-be-made profits on the real estate. Nothing in the world is free, especially not risk-free.

Your point about leverage is valid. Two things:

- You can use leverage for stock market investments. 75% of the hedge funds use controlled leverage.
- Leverage can work _FOR_ you (if your speculation works out), or _AGAINST_ you. People talk about leverage as a magical tool that always ten-folds their profits and minimizes their own risks because "it's the banks money". Yes, it can work that way. However, it can also burn your money ten times as fast. Never forget that.

man invest that cash in some real business!

In my country you can buy 2 big Volvo/Mercedes trucks that will make you together about 10k$ a month each! thats 120k a year per truck!

You can also get OMV oil pump to manage for 1/4 of that money and you have % of everything sold on it.

Thats where the money is...
Fuck banks - invest in real business

You have to be careful of the business, but generally speaking, business is by far the top way to make profits.

nice :thumbsup

all the mutual and hedge funds, they do good only as long as economy does good, so beware

I too have been looking where to put my money

which country is that?

Around here the "online" accounts are very competitive, some places are paying rates past 6%. The "normal" banks have also come to the party recently with high interest bearing accounts that can be accessed via an ATM. ING started it but they are no longer the leader. :)

(Note that while 6% return in a bank account sounds pretty good we're typically paying 6.75%+ interest on home loans.....)

another bump

I buy commercial real estate. Put an offer out today. The threat of rising rates is a real deal killer. Rates go to 10% and all real property with be worth a lower value. Especially commercial property. It is based on Income and cap rate. Cap rate is interest rate sensitive.

If you are not the type to do the leg work on buildings etc. A sp500 mutual fund is great right now. The market looks to go higher here and is doing fine. Low fees, very low risk and has averaged about 10% for the last 100 years.

Lower the risk by putting 1/2 in today and half in 6 months. repeat as you generate more excess cash. If the internet ever dries up for you, you will have all kinds of time to do something else with that cash.

:thumbsup

Holy Shit! This is a funny one.

300,000 surfers got sucked into a "get paid to surf" scheme to make a 44% return in 12 days. The company took in over $50 Million using StormPay.com.

SEC just shut them down.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

Full Story Link:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060228/...N5bnN1YmNhdA--

brazilian treasury bonds, fucking high interest at 17.25% per year

Real Estate.

Very true, if for example you put down 100k and buy some real estate worth 1 million, and then the price of that real estate drops by 10% (far from impossible) you will be left with ZERO equity, and if shit turns bad, and the prices drop by 15%, you will end up owing 50k...

Not to mention you paid to buy that property and will pay to sell it again.

wow
do you have more info?

bumpbump

if you buy quality commercial properties with a cap rate over 10% you will be cash flow positive even if interest rates rise -- so over the long term you will be ok

Real estate should not usually be looked at as a speculative short term venture

invest in concerts.

book a TRL band on MTV for an 8000 capacity venue.

spend 10k in radio advertisements (they do all the legwork), 100k for the talent (thats on the high end), ~20k for venue + equipment.

charge 25-35 a ticket

150k profit, in 3 month's from planning to execution, no work, minimal risk.

good info boys
good info

Vegas Airport Municipal Bonds. I think they are paying closeot 6% non taxable. Accoridng to the Rule of 72 that means you would be doubling your money every 12 years with taxes.

ok invest it in the stockmarket

Aww, come on. You know you had an AllAdvantage surf bar on.

This is not true. Your loan is not a 30 year fixed on commercial property. Your equity will be gone and you will not cash flow.

I love real estate and buy it with my extra cash but it is like all investments. It really helps if you know what you are doing.

Holy shit

thanks for the info too bad no referral codes to help you out