What would you invest in if you had $75,000 USD to spare?

[Daniel Molano]

Hey guys,

I was just wondering, what would you do if you had $75,000 USD to spare and invest?

Nothing on traffic generation please, assume that you don't need any more traffic whatsoever.

Real estate? Stocks? Holidays?

- Dan

[Corwinnx]

Internet Marketing Services for Offline businesses or Virtual Real Estate would be my top choices.

-Marcus

[Black Hat Cat]

Guns and ammo. And a shovel to use to hide what's left before it's taken and given to someone who "deserves it" more than you do.

[DavidTheMavin]

Gold bullion

[Tyrus Antas]

Established websites. Specially niche specific sites that aren't necessarily making money but have good traffic. They're cheap and it's relatively easy to convert the traffic into leads then into profits.

Tyrus

[timpears]

I would invest in either, commercial real estate, or options.

Real estate is not in a good way recently, so that makes it a good time to put your money into it. When everyone wants out, that is the time to pick up the bargains. I wouldn't touch single family stuff, but multi family units of 20 to 40 or more units, or office buildings with smaller units of 1,000 sf to 3,000 sf or maybe a little larger would be good, or even retail strip centers are pretty decent.

I have been watching an option advisory service, and they are showing a pretty constant 10% per month rate of return. Only a very few months over the last three or four years have they shown a loss in any month. So I would invest in their recomendations.

That is what I would do with that much spare cash.

[David Raybould]

Real estate.

All day long.

[Josh Anderson]

Real estate...

Short sales and pre foreclosures. Its the perfect buyers market in the US.

[Adaptive]

Some of it would go to personal needs: debt payoff, savings nest egg, and some ways to improve my health that have been too expensive for me.

All the rest goes for education and networking in the marketing field, by attending the highest end seminars I could find. I'd put myself where the most successful people provide the most in-depth details about their techniques, and where I can personally meet the greatest number of top quality people who could be new business partners.

With $75k, I think I could participate in a week-long A+ seminar just about every month.

If your "no traffic" rule means I'm not allowed to put the money into the marketing field, then I would attend the top conventions in my offline fields of interest. Again, looking for who is the best in the business, and for new colleagues. I'd also look for companies with great innovations and lousy marketing, and I'd offer to help them sell their breakthroughs. I'd also see if there are companies with great customer lists and lousy current management, and see if I could get some joint ventures going.

Regards,
Allen

[crissanteiro]

I would invest in gold and real estate.

Actually would not need $75,000 .. I would invest in a new website that I know can already bring in no less than $10,000+ a month.

* So $5,000 in the website
* $30,000 set aside (just good old bank interest nothing special)
* $40,000 to help others in desparate need of help

That may not be what you looking for but that is what I would do...

James

[SeanIM]

Originally Posted by David Raybould

Real estate.

All day long.

Absolutely...and specifically I'd pickup a few units in the GO ZONE for that nice 50% depreciation tax credit well that and the positive cashflow from the leaseback for the next 30 months....

or maybe a few one-off REO units if I felt like 'actual' work

[tonybhachu]

Virtual Real Estate.

Buy a website ranked on page one of Google for a fairly competitive and popular keyword(s) which is already making money. Has to have a short and friendly TLD.

Pay the investment off in 2 to 3 years and the rest is gravey.
Plus the domain name itself will appreciate in value over the years.

All the best,
Tony

[DanielFonda]

I would have to go with an offline business. Possibly and online business, but that's mostly it. You need want to get your regular daily (steady) cash-flow.

[kckaz]

Invest in what you know. Use it to leverage a bigger internet biz with more cash flow.

[Ron Douglas]

Originally Posted by Daniel Molano

Hey guys,

I was just wondering, what would you do if you had $75,000 USD to spare and invest?

Nothing on traffic generation please, assume that you don't need any more traffic whatsoever.

Real estate? Stocks? Holidays?

- Dan

I would spend it all on strippers and table dances, but here in New York City it wouldn't even cover the bill:

What A Small Fortune Buys at Manhattan's Premier Strip club

Seriously though, real estate is where it's at right now as Josh mentioned. I'd buy another income producing property, which I'm actually looking to do right now.

[SarahMcHarry]

$75,000 is not a huge amount (approx £51,000 where I live).

I want to buy the house next door to me because that would mean that we had double the living space without having to move home. For this I would need £150,000(?) so I would probably have to treble the $75,000.

I would invest this in Brent Crude which at $49.31 a barrel is a lot lower than the peak of $140 which it was six months ago. Governments are pumping money to get the economy working again and demand for oil correlates to economic output. On the basis that, one way or another, the economy will recover, property prices may still fall, and oil producing countries will screw the West for all they can get, I think this is worth the gamble

Sarah

[Johnny Slater]

With the current real estate market you could grab a few houses at foreclosure with that amount.

Buy one or two houses and rent them out. Take the income from those two and buy another one. Continue this cycle until you have 10+ rental properties and your set then.

I have a friend who did exactly that about 15 years ago. She took 100K and bought 3 houses at foreclosure, then reinvested the money in more houses until she owned about 15 of them. The monthly income from those houses, all paid off, made her quite a bit of money.

[myob]

It's really not that much to play with in the US, but real estate definitely has been a fantastic deal especially for the last two years or so in Mexico. You can negotiate some hard nosed deals with $75,000 cash. Good stocks are also at near record lows. Can you say opportunity?

[Daniel Molano]

Great replies everyone,

I believe Josh had the best idea, short calls and foreclosures.

Some real estate properties are so cheap right now, in a few years they are going to have an incredible value, maybe not as high as 1-2 years ago, but definitely a lot higher than now a days.

As for short calls, not a bad idea with so many companies going down, and also extremely low stock prices as compared to before.

I also got a great lead on a gold mine investment.

Thanks,

Dan

[myob]

Originally Posted by Daniel Molano

Great replies everyone,

I believe Josh had the best idea, short calls and foreclosures.

Dan, Josh did not mean short calls as in stocks. I believe he was talking about short sales in real estate. Much different. Now is not the time to be short selling stocks.

If you are investing in stocks with some of that cash, do some day trading. The markets are so volatile that you can earn returns of 2,000% or more every day if you have the nerve to go in and out of stocks several times a day. I did this with Enron in its waning days and made a nice little fortune with only $50,000 traded many times a day when it went fluctuating wildly at literally pennies per share. And I'm doing it again right now bigtime with GM and dozens of other high volume trading stocks that have wide swings. These profits from the stock market are financing my real estate deals in prime areas of the country. There is literally millions to be made with a small $75,000 exposure. All the best to you.

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by myob

Dan, Josh did not mean short calls as in stocks. I believe he was talking about short sales in real estate. Much different. Now is not the time to be short selling in stocks.

Forgive my real estate ignorance, I thought he was talking about short call options.

I've had some minor success with stocks in the past with a simple strategy.

I got a couple with 1-2 or so Beta and at their lowest 52 week ranges possible, assuming they would go up, all of them did. But at that time I didn't invest much.

That's why stocks immediately came to mind.

With short calling it would be practically the opposite and it might work, but you have to firmly believe that the stock is not going to go up like crazy.

[TheRichLife]

I wouldn't be selling call options right now unless it's one leg of a spread. Now that the VIX has dropped, the premiums for options has come down significantly. Couple that with a stock market that has finally found some support, and you have a recipe to get burned on short calls...especially if they're naked.

Invest in what you know.

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by TheRichLife

I wouldn't be selling call options right now unless it's one leg of a spread. Now that the VIX has dropped, the premiums for options has come down significantly. Couple that with a stock market that has finally found some support, and you have a recipe to get burned on short calls...especially if they're naked.

Invest in what you know.

I don't consider myself an expert, nor remotely close to being one, but I was talking about covered calls (not naked), I still think they have some potential right now.

[Mark Riddle]

Discounted Mortgages Shhhhhhh

[TheRichLife]

Originally Posted by Daniel Molano

I don't consider myself an expert, nor remotely close to being one, but I was talking about covered calls (not naked), I still think they have some potential right now.

If done right, covered calls won't burn you (other than loss of potential profits). Good luck to you! I hope you invest wisely.

[Adaptive]

Buy one or two houses and rent them out. Take the income from those two and buy another one. Continue this cycle until you have 10+ rental properties and your set then.

Johnny, isn't that the formula from Robert Allen's "Nothing Down"?

Regards,
Allen

[Johnny Slater]

I honestly have no idea as I have never seen it. What I mentioned happend over 20 years ago.

Originally Posted by Adaptive

Johnny, isn't that the formula from Robert Allen's "Nothing Down"?

Regards,
Allen

[nicholasb]

I would invest in tax liens, silver, and one foreclosed rental property

[shane_k]

Real Estate Definately

If you are in the states foreclosures and pre-foreclosures

Or if you are in a state that does tax sales I would check some of those out.


Then I would buy two books

Buffettology and The Buffettology Workbook by Mary Buffett

It explains Warren Buffetts Investment Strategies and you would be amazed how simple his strategy is.

How he looks at stocks from a Business Perspective which everyone should and 99% of people do not.

And his ideas on buying stocks when everyone else is scared. That's when they are cheap. Same with Real Estate now is the time to buy Real Estate because the prices are so low.

Remember "Crash" is just another word for "On Sale"

Obviously you would want to do your due dillegence before you invest in anything.

Another great thing about "Buffettology" is they talk about comparing Rates of Return which is what Warren Buffett does.

You can look at Real Estate or Stocks or Websites and Determine what would give you the best Rate Of Return and that is what you should choose.

Anyway, I am tired and going to go to bed.

Shane_K

[edpudol1973]

I will buy a resort in Boracay or other part of the Philippines.

[Mr McDonald]

Vialogy (VIY) on London stock exchange.

New sciesmic tech, just had third in row successful oil find. Talking to texas major.

Thats where my money would go.

[affilcrazy]

The fact that you have written "$75,000 USD to spare" gives me other ideas from everyone else.

This says to me, this amount is in excess of what you require to live comfortably. So if you have earnt this amount of excess cash, you can definitely repeat the process and do it again!

So for me, i would buy a couple of websites that are producing some decent passive income. Outsource additional traffic generation and then blow the rest on sex, drugs and rock & roll!! Ok perhaps, i would just take the family on a nice long holiday!

Cheers
Partha

[pjCheviot]

A spare $75,000? Mmmm now then . . . . . .

I would spend $10,000 on wine, women and song (didn't want to use "Sex, drugs and rock and roll!" )

And the rest - - - I'd just fritter away

[michellegreen]

Firstly, I would be pretty happy to have that spare.

Secondly, I'd add it to my trading money to trade covered calls on the US stock market.

Thirdly, I'd use the profits from that to invest in property.

[BlaineGlynn]

A porsche. Probably not a wise investment. Besides that right now would be a great time to get into real estate.

[Sunny Outside]

Originally Posted by blackhatcat

Guns and ammo. And a shovel to use to hide what's left before it's taken and given to someone who "deserves it" more than you do.

Agreed. The debacle immediately following what happened in New Orleans during Katrina taught me that. Police protection has it's limits.

[Sunny Outside]

Originally Posted by Daniel Molano

Hey guys,

I was just wondering, what would you do if you had $75,000 USD to spare and invest?

Nothing on traffic generation please, assume that you don't need any more traffic whatsoever.

Real estate? Stocks? Holidays?

- Dan

Real Estate

[Asher]

If I didn't need any more traffic?...

I'd definitely take the money and bring my family for
a nice holiday.

When I have $75,000 to spare, the first people to
enjoy it should be the people closest to me

Kinda "politically correct" but that's how I'm gonna
do it!

Asher

[cncbuss]

Assuming you were already up and running with an e-commerce business, and you had already donated a large chunk to charity and spent a lot of money on yourself and the ones you love, I'd say the only "real" investment vehicle to consider seriously is Real Estate.
But don't just take my word for it, hire the highest qualifiedperson you can find who is already investing in what he suggests and learn what you can from him or her. Real Estate can be hands on, such as a buy, renovate and flip, or invest and stand back kind of deal such as an apartment building. Or another way is going into partnership with developers to ensure your ROI. Belize is on the up rise and that is where my money is currently working...
One way or another, if you want help in finding the right Real Estate coach or partner, PM me, I know a few who can help.

[Sunny Outside]

Originally Posted by cncbuss

Belize is on the up rise and that is where my money is currently working...
One way or another, if you want help in finding the right Real Estate coach or partner, PM me, I know a few who can help.

What language do they speak in Belize?

[Srikanth D]

Save $70K in bank as fixed deposit.

Find a top marketer, offer him $2k as fee and in return ask for one-one coaching do be given till I make $10K per month in profits.

What about the $3k?? Well, the top marketer would definetly want me to buy few tools or few softwares. Will spend $3k on all those..


Now that I have answered it, where is my $75k???
LOL!!

[edman]

Any business I go into has to be something I like and I can do even if I am not paid for it... So if I were invest $75,000 into anything it will have to be into something I am passionate about.

Ideas are plentiful... My priority will first be to use this time to either think of a way to improve my existing offer so that I rebrand it as the authority I initially planned, or if I were satisfied, then I would sit down and plan out how my other passion can be turned into abusiness using the funds I have to spare

Originally Posted by Daniel Molano

Hey guys,

I was just wondering, what would you do if you had $75,000 USD to spare and invest?

Nothing on traffic generation please, assume that you don't need any more traffic whatsoever.

Real estate? Stocks? Holidays?

- Dan

[WillDee]

Invest...hmmm...paintball field. *nods*

[Daniel Molano]

Originally Posted by affilcrazy

The fact that you have written "$75,000 USD to spare" gives me other ideas from everyone else.

This says to me, this amount is in excess of what you require to live comfortably. So if you have earnt this amount of excess cash, you can definitely repeat the process and do it again!

So for me, i would buy a couple of websites that are producing some decent passive income. Outsource additional traffic generation and then blow the rest on sex, drugs and rock & roll!! Ok perhaps, i would just take the family on a nice long holiday!

Cheers
Partha

That would be correct Partha, I meant excess cash. But I'm looking for opinions on a different angle rather than more online investments.

Unless there is a couple of profitable online investments with high ROI that don't involve more traffic generation.

[Kay King]

Sounds like a personal problem.

I'd say consider investing the $75k in a mattress for 2009 - just in case...

I wouldn't invest in commercial real estate right now - as it is predicted to have some big losses in the next 12 months. I'd invest in real estate only in areas where I thoroughly know the market as the price decline may not be over yet. Worse, many areas are seeing vandalism of the thousands of vacant homes to the point where neighborhood values are still dropping.

If I bought stock - it would be in the areas of food production, "green" building supplies, etc. No gold, no health care, no financials.

$75k makes a good "rainy day" fund - and it's a good fund to have these days.

kay

[affilcrazy]

Originally Posted by Daniel Molano

That would be correct Partha, I meant excess cash. But I'm looking for opinions on a different angle rather than more online investments.

Unless there is a couple of profitable online investments with high ROI that don't involve more traffic generation.

OK. Point taken. I'll provide a more sensible answer as this is kind of my area of expertise (ex Retail & Marketing Bank Manager).

Even with the economy as it is at the moment, some of the top investment companies can still offer some great deals.

Norwich Union/Aviva had a guaranteed portfolio bond last time i checked. Please remember i live on the other side of the water, so whether this is available in the States i don't know!

OK, it's a minimum investment of £10,000 (so approx $15,000 at the mo!) and your investment is split 30/70.

30% of your investment goes into a one year fixed bond (last time i checked it was 5.5%) at the end of the year you get your interest added to your account, the interest rate reverts to a lower rate that is determined at the time and you can withdraw this money whenever you like.

Now the 70% goes into an equity bond for 5 years. Norwich Union offer a guarantee, that the lowest return you will get after 5 years is your capital back plus 5%. (So you will make some money even if the stock market complete crashes and we return to 1929 or 1987 or as we will be saying in years to come 2008!! you will still make a profit.)

However, you will also receive any increase that the Stock market produces. This is the perfect time to invest, as share prices can only really go in one direction now...UP!

Over the last 2 years, this investment has yielded interest rates of 19% and 23% respectively. At the end of each year, your earned interest is added to your balance. So even if this investment produces absolutely nothing for the next 3 years, someone who invested 2 years ago will at least make approximately 50% profit!

Sorry if this makes no sense, i know us finance types are sometimes as bad as the techie geeks, when it comes to talking shop!

My suggestion is to check out Norwich Union's site and if you have any questions let me know and i will try and steer you in the right direction.

Cheers
Partha

[iwebtopia]

If I had $75,000 I would quit my day job asap and totally focus all my efforts to IM which is what I have been wanting to do for years. The day job robs me of all my valuable time and prevents me from doing what I really want to do. $75,000 would give me security to know my bills will paid and my family will be taken care of while pursing my dream which is to work for myself from home.

[adam westrop]

Believe it or not, I would invest some in John Morrissons sport betting programme, gives consistent earnings but sometimes not major.

With the other I would use for higher reserved savings and some treats.

[AltaMind]

I'd invest in a few of my dot com ideas.