Four Places To Put Your Money Now

Money seems to be disappearing quicker than you can track the losses. A friend in the land of Malbec, tango, and financial fiasco wrote over the weekend to say he’s desperate to get what he’s got left out of Argentina pronto.

Argentina, of course, isn’t the only country courting crisis these days. Friends in the States report paper losses on their stock holdings of as much as 10% a week over the past few. And Lief finally confided over the weekend that his IRA is now worth precisely 50% of what it was worth a year ago this time.

Likely, you’re in the same boat. What do you do now?

I originally posed this question yesterday, when I explained that, in fact, right now is maybe the best time in a long time to be scouting land buy opportunities. Beachfront and productive land. Real assets that can carry you through and allow you to ride out whatever global markets may have in store.

As I told you yesterday, we’re on it. Scouts are dispatched, and our editors are working around the clock to prepare a special Where To Buy Now global real estate crisis investing report.

Meantime, today, I make four specific recommendations, four places where Lief and I have put money of our own and where I’d suggest you think about doing likewise:

Timber. Specifically, land planted with teak in the Darien region of Panama. This country is one of but a handful in the world where you can grow premium teak, the world’s most valuable hardwood. Furthermore, a managed hardwood like teak is not only a good way to beat the markets, it’s also a great way to hedge them. Timber operates blissfully ignorant of things like the DOW and the FTSE. You purchase land under agreement with a timber management company. They manage the land for you, planting, harvesting, replanting, thinning… You collect a portion of the revenues, which can be as much as 15% annually.
Beachfront. Specifically, on the west coast of Panama’s Azuero Peninsula, which Lief Simon, with more than a dozen years of global real estate investing experience behind him, has pinpointed as the Next Big Thing…the locale of the next boom in this country that has been enjoying a series of booms over the past decade. Panama has legs to carry it through the current world financial meltdowns. And its Pacific coast hides some of the most dramatically beautiful beachfront anywhere.
More Beachfront. Specifically, on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua, more specifically, at this coast’s Santa Rosa, where current markets, global and local, have conspired to create what I believe qualifies as not only the best beachfront buy in this country, but also one of the best anywhere right now.
The French Leaseback. No, this isn’t beachfront or productive land, but it’s a play that makes more sense right now than ever. Buy an apartment in France through the leaseback program, and you’re not only investing in your eventual retirement pied-a-terre, but you’re also guaranteeing yourself a reliable annual yield. The amount of the yield depends on the leaseback property you buy. Typical yields today are in the range of 3% to 4%. Furthermore, you can finance your leaseback buy. Plus, when you buy, the value-added tax (VAT) is rebated, meaning you save 19.6% off the list price. This is a long-term play, as you must commit to lease your property back to the rental management group for nine years. However, in the current climate, locking in nine years of guaranteed yields doesn’t sound like such a bad idea, does it? And, again, at the end of the nine years, you walk away with your own retirement home in France.