Do you know where to start first?

Sometimes it is hard to tell a good investment from a money hole. Firstly, there are several ways to attempt to grow your money: if you can find a great need then you have potential for a great business. Real estate and land will always be a great investment or you could try your luck alongside great investors such as Warren Buffet, and lunge into the precarious world of the stock market. There are many ways to go about investing, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Fortunately, there are basic strategies to help your money, and your future grow.

Do you deal in grand ideas and ambition? If you’re the type of person that never has to be told to look at the big picture, who is never short on ambition and have a vision for the perfect business for the new world then perhaps you’re the next great entrepreneur. This will net you highest reward, but be warned: there are many rules. Prepare to spend a lot of your life pouring over tax law, business law and crunching numbers. In addition, you should be pretty knowledgeable in the field you are going into. Any time you spend working in your prospective field will be well worth it. Still not scared off? Well then, assemble your team and get crunching. A good place to start is something called a SWOT Analysis. This stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. You do not want to spend a lot of time on this, a few hours should suffice, before you know it you’ll be planning your own ambitious venture. Next, take time to decide on about ten important people to meet with, such as peers, potential customers and experts. If you can pitch the idea to customers and get them to sign a non-binding statement of interest then you have proven your idea has merit and can start looking for investors. It will be a long road, but if you are skilled then you can be sure it will be paved gold.

As recently as five years ago, it was common knowledge that real estate was the best investment to earn money with. However, a few hundred thousand rotten sub-prime mortgages later, a very different picture is being painted. We have seen trillions stripped from real estate values and many are still not convinced the fallout is over. No reason to be pessimistic; you, the ever skilled investor, see opportunity where others see chaos. First, you need to decide whether you want to actively rent out a residence or if you want to buy and “flip” a house for profit. There is also new construction to consider, but it’s important to remember that this was a major part of the real estate bubble, and probably should be avoided. In any scenario, it is important to get a good read on the location. Checking for nearby attractions to highlight is good start, but eventually you will want to set up a stakeout to observe the comings and goings of the neighborhood. If the police come and talk to you, it is typically a good sign. Most people selling their house will want to go through a Realtor, if you find an opportunity to avoid them, do. A lot of people drastically undervalue their house, and you could potentially profit even before starting any work on the domicile. If you decide to renovate then spend most of your money in the bathroom and kitchen. If renting, be aware that it is a lot more complex than a paycheck every month. You will need to be keenly aware of renter’s rights, and building codes. You will be responsible in the event of emergencies and for any maintenance. Make sure you screen residents thoroughly, even though you can never be sure when a potential renter is a flake, proper screening will help a lot. Be ready for the eventual flakes, especially when you are running a big time operation.

Of course when one thinks investing, one is probably thinking about the stock market. Similarly to starting your own business, a good place to start is an industry that you’re personally familiar with. Any way that you can become more familiar with a company will help craft your decisions in a profitable manner. Many companies have detailed investor relations pages that can be valuable resource. Some investors get stuck on the p/e ratio (price to earnings) and think that it alone makes a good investment. This is a good way to get caught up in a bubble. It is in your best interest to learn how to read a stock statement and how to analyze income statements if you want to make money.

It is easy to consider a broker as an easy way out; you will probably need at least a simple unadvised account to be able to trade stocks privately. Unfortunately, this requires almost as much research as simply selecting stocks personally. There are a lot of brokers that get commissions unrelated to client’s profit creating a dangerous conflict of interest. You will need to know your specific goals, whether a college account or a longer term retirement account. Identify whether you want a high risk high return type of plan or if you want to go with a surer thing. The best way to tell if an broker is only going to game you for your money is to become very familiar with how the broker gets paid. Also aim to find out the disciplinary history of the agency.

In the end, what makes a good investment down to how much control and time you want to dedicate. If you wish to devote a lot of time to a long term investment, perhaps a business is the way to go. If you are looking for a way to occupy yourself in a shorter term, although also high involvement and intensity plan, then real estate maybe be for you. However, there are a lot of people that are able find a broker they know well and trust. These lucky souls can simply vacation and enjoy their lives secure in the knowledge that their money is being treated with proper fiduciary respect.