Investment Ideas

[Silvestru]

Hello guys,

 

I know this is a science forum but it's also where many smart people gather.

 

I was just curious whats your idea about investing if you had lets say a small amount of 1000$.

 

For example I heard that most Cocoa producers are switching to other fruits as it is really not profitable so chocolate prices will surely increase.

One option would be to invest in a long shelf life cocoa product.

 

[Sensei]

Because it's science forum, everybody will say "invest in education" the most likely..

[Silvestru]

Yeah but the goal in this investment question is monetary profit. Which lets face it...Science is not a hot environment for this for the individual. For the company/nation yes.

[Sensei]

What profit are you expecting from such small amount as $1000... ?

100% of profit will be $1000..

On stockmarkets people are happy if they have >10% per year, which means $100 from your $1000.

If you have f.e. slow computer, slow Internet, and long waiting for end of operation, then investment in new computer will save you money in future, as you will be able to work faster.

If you don't know programming then investing in C/C++/Java book $20 can give you in future enormous profits, much larger than these $1000.

If you don't have 3D modeling application, then investment in such app, and making f.e. mobile phone game, can give you many thousands or even millions, depends whether people will like it or not.

It even does not have to be pretty. Idea is the key.

Edited May 26, 2017 by Sensei

[sunshaker]

You used to buy bitcoins for pennies, now they are over $2400 each,

Virtual currency is here to stay, to late to invest in bitcoin, but do your homework, there is alot of money to be made in virtual currency,

http://www.finews.asia/finance/24552-fintech-virtual-currency-mufg-japan

 

Or invest in a start up company, Drones & VR are looking promising.

 

Also keep your eyes open for new materials being created, which you may be able to invest in.i the early stages.

http://www.newelectronics.co.uk/electronics-news/metallic-nanowire-is-true-1d-material/155661/

Edited May 26, 2017 by sunshaker

[Silvestru]

What profit are you expecting from such small amount as $1000... ?

100% of profit will be $1000..

On stockmarkets people are happy if they have >10% per year, which means $100 from your $1000.

If you have f.e. slow computer, slow Internet, and long waiting for end of operation, then investment in new computer will save you money in future, as you will be able to work faster.

If you don't know programming then investing in C/C++/Java book $20 can give you in future enormous profits, much larger than these $1000.

If you don't have 3D modeling application, then investment in such app, and making f.e. mobile phone game, can give you many thousands or even millions, depends whether people will like it or not.

It even does not have to be pretty. Idea is the key.

Sensei I chose 1000$ to be able to give simple examples. My friend grows bonsai-like trees in his living room. Investment is less than 1000$ and trust me profits can be very big.

Another friend goes to second hand clothing shops one day a week and sells hipster sweaters on her website making 50bucks profit for each with minimum effort.

I can give many examples. I was hoping to hear more also

[Phi for All]

Sensei I chose 1000$ to be able to give simple examples. My friend grows bonsai-like trees in his living room. Investment is less than 1000$ and trust me profits can be very big.

Another friend goes to second hand clothing shops one day a week and sells hipster sweaters on her website making 50bucks profit for each with minimum effort.

I can give many examples. I was hoping to hear more also

 

These are businesses, not investments like your cocoa product idea. The difference is in who puts up the funds and who does the actual work.

 

Telling you about investment ideas could help drive profits up for me in lots of situations. Telling you about business ideas gives me no benefit at all, unless I get to be a partner.

[swansont]

You used to buy bitcoins for pennies, now they are over $2400 each,

Virtual currency is here to stay, to late to invest in bitcoin, but do your homework, there is alot of money to be made in virtual currency,

http://www.finews.asia/finance/24552-fintech-virtual-currency-mufg-japan

 

Or invest in a start up company, Drones & VR are looking promising.

 

Also keep your eyes open for new materials being created, which you may be able to invest in.i the early stages.

http://www.newelectronics.co.uk/electronics-news/metallic-nanowire-is-true-1d-material/155661/

You have to invest before it becomes a popular investment, and since most ventures fail, these are long odds. A promising technology is nice, but you still have to identify a company that's going to do well, among the crowd.

[Raider5678]

You have to invest before it becomes a popular investment, and since most ventures fail, these are long odds. A promising technology is nice, but you still have to identify a company that's going to do well, among the crowd.

And if you succeed, then boom.

Never worry about financial stress again.

 

Unless you're an idiot like the guy who won 600 million on the lottery and was broke within a year.

[NimrodTheGoat]

Invest money in an agricultural field. There will always be a need for ag, so it may look promising to an investor.

[Delta1212]

And if you succeed, then boom.

Never worry about financial stress again.

 

Unless you're an idiot like the guy who won 600 million on the lottery and was broke within a year.

That is extremely common. Most people do not know how to manage money, especially large sums of it.

[Raider5678]

That is extremely common. Most people do not know how to manage money, especially large sums of it.

Sadly.

I can't imagine spending 100 million, let alone 600 million.

I would just buy a nice pleasant house, a good car, and have the rest put in a safe below my house and pretty much never spend it.

Edited May 27, 2017 by Raider5678

[Delta1212]

Sadly.

I can't imagine spending 100 million, let alone 600 million.

I would just buy a nice pleasant house, a good car, and have the rest put in a safe below my house and pretty much never spend it.

That's really the kind of thing that gets people in trouble. They can't imagine spending all of that money, so it comes as a surprise when they end up doing it. You need a realistic plan of how to handle money if you don't want to mismanage it into oblivion.

 

There at some pretty secure funds that can pay out 4% returns per year without depleting the principle. That allows you to live off the interest pretty much indefinitely. With a 300 million dollar windfall, properly managed, you could spend $1 million a month without ever eating into that $300 million.

 

Ideally, on a smaller scale, that's what retirement should look like. The only questions are how much principle you need to have invested to comfortably live off of and then how much you need to save each month during your working years to reach that goal.

[swansont]

And if you succeed, then boom.

Never worry about financial stress again.

 

Unless you're an idiot like the guy who won 600 million on the lottery and was broke within a year.

 

 

But hitting that one speculative investment is similar to winning the lottery.

 

Whether you make that investment (or any investment) depends on your risk tolerance. Riskier investments correlate with higher potential returns, but they fail more often. Not everyone can stand to see their investment dwindling to zero.

 

There's also a difference in your approach if you are investing a lump sum vs making incremental investments over time. ACME corp might be a great company, but if you invest when a lot of other people have decided it's a good investment and have driven the stock price up, you won't see as large a return on your money. Look at stock prices in 2000 and again in 2007. They were followed by economic downturns, and stock prices dropped. Some never recovered. But if you invested after the big drop, you could make much more money in the companies that were able to weather the storm.

 

see e.g. SBUX in 2006 vs 2009. The difference between >10x return on money and 3x return over a longer time period

GE is another example to look at. Has never recovered to its peak in 2000-2001, but an investment made in 2009 has tripled

[zack.miller]

I am dividing the investments into categories in order of risk.

Low Risk - Here you won't lose the money but can't earn much

High Risk - The chances of earning are small, but you can earn a lot

Since 1000$ is a small amount (according to me) I guess you're interested in something with higher risk.

There is a process of evaluating the investment ideas. Make a list and make analysis, we're interested in science, right?

There are terms like net present value, qualitative and quantitative analysis... You'll understand the huge difference between an investment in gold, shares of a company, bitcoin...

Start a simple SWOT of the final ideas

[iNow]

Didn't feel like creating an entirely new thread for this, so chose to necro this one.

The short answer is to start early and be patient. 

Awesome video on the power of compounding at this link:

https://ritholtz.com/2019/06/the-power-of-compounding-2/