Asset Classes for Investment

 

Concrete and Virtual Goods 

for Investing in 

Real and Financial Markets

The asset classes for investment include stocks and bonds, commodities and realty. The best picks depend on personal factors like financial status and risk tolerance.

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Skyscrapers Predict Real and Financial Markets

 

A Spurt of Gross High-Rises

Marks an Asset Bubble 

and Portends a Market Crash

A breakout of soaring skyscrapers can presage a crash of the stock market and a recession in the real economy. That is, a bubble in real estate by way of oversize buildings heralds the end of a boom and the onset of a bust. In this way, a rash of record-busting construction serves as a portent of doom during the long-lived cycles in the property market as well as the financial forum.

In the modern era, real estate and financial assets form the bulk of wealth for the population at large. For this and other reasons, the tangible and virtual markets are closely intertwined. In the larger scheme of things, the fortunes of both types of assets depend on the health of the economy at large. In that case, it makes sense for the real and financial markets to display a heap of correlation and even a glob of causality with each other.

In their own way, skyscrapers can serve as beacons for investment planning by spotlighting bouts of excess in the property sector as well as other domains such as the stock market. All too often, an upcast of buildings that set fresh records for height is a glaring sign of froth in the real economy and the financial system. For this reason, the sober investor should pay heed to high-rise projects that make little or no sense from a pragmatic stance. To wit, a spate of record-breaking buildings is a cue for the canny player to rejigger their portfolio and prepare for a blowout in the real and financial markets.


NOTE: The full report is a document in PDF form under the title of “Skyscrapers Predict Real and Financial Markets”. The briefing may be viewed or downloaded here.

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Market Outlook for the Early 2010s

Forecast of the Stock Market and Global Economy

A systematic approach to investing requires a prediction of the stock market and the global economy, whether the call happens to be a precise forecast or a rough guesstimate. As a backdrop for picturing the markets downrange, the main event of 2011 was the breakdown of the equity market along with the turmoil in neighboring fields such as commodities and currencies.

One reason for the hullabaloo stemmed from the fitful progress of the economy in developed countries like the U.S., Britain and Japan. Another factor stemmed from the tizzy over the debt crisis in southern Europe, along with widespread fears of a breakup of the euro and collapse of the economy across the continent. These worries brought up the specter of a world plunging into a full-blown recession.

Despite the current jitters in the marketplace, however, the global economy is slated to expand by more than 3% in 2012. Meanwhile the corresponding figure for the U.S. is about 2% even as Europe ekes out a paltry gain.

On the financial front, the stock markets of the mature economies are likely to expand by roughly 16% before the year is out. Better yet, the bourses in the emerging countries should surge by 30% or so.

On a different note, the smackdown of the stock market last year cropped up in sync with the long-range schedule of crashes. As a result, the sequence of blowouts appears to be on track in spite of the muddled breakdown – rather than a clear-cut collapse – after the bourse touched a peak in 2007. As things stand, the next crash of the stock market is likely to occur around 2017 in tune with the running tempo of bombshells since the previous century.

Read the full contents of the electronic book here: Market Outlook for the Early 2010s.

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Market Myths

Fairy Tales Mislead Investors of All Types

The world of investment is a hothouse of myths that belie the reality of the financial markets as well as the real economy. The billow of fairy tales pervades the entire
landscape, ranging from stocks and futures to commodities and currencies.

The bluster of fiction serves to fuddle and stymie investors of all breeds. The players in a bind include newcomers dabbling in the market in their spare time as well as veterans bent on trading the whole day long.

The worst of the folklore can be traced to a pile of voodoo spawned by the high priests of financial economics. The tall tales spun by the hoary clergy run the gamut from the
mystique of random walks to the impossibility of superior returns.

Not surprisingly, the heap of bunk confuses rather than enlightens the luckless investors. In fact, a host of shibboleths do not merely distort the reality but contradict the facts entirely. The hail of obfuscation feeds a quagmire that’s in many ways more slippery and treacherous than most people suspect.

On the upside, though, the financial forum is not as fickle or mystic as it appears to lots of folks, be they wild-eyed tyros or jaded pros. To approach the field in a cogent way, the earnest player can take concrete steps to sort out the wheat from the chaff, the signal from the noise. In thrashing out a sound trail through the thicket of hokum, the first task of the investor is to thresh out the solid facts from the mushy yarns piled high and wide throughout the landscape.

Read more on Market Myths.

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International Real Estate for Investment and Retirement

A Primer and Guide to Top Resources 

for Investing in International Real Estate

An investor in international real estate has to consider a host of issues in selecting a property. To this end, the crucial factors span the gamut from global trends in real estate to local conditions in the target neighborhood.

This article presents a lineup of large-scale trends in the marketplace as well as key issues for the investor. A second, and related, task is to lay out a palette of pointers for avoiding common mistakes. A third feature involves a review of the top resources for investing in the property sector in far-flung countries.

Read more on International Real Estate for Investment and Retirement.


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