The money-game

[Zoologic]

Classic sports car requires maintenance and care that is not only time consuming, but sometimes expensive to retain their value. I only recommend this to people who care about cars and do this for a hobby and passion. Some classics will give you insane amount of returns if some weird events strike.

I don't know about classic furniture.

But expensive watches are generally too expensive to begin with. However, the value will stay afloat for crazy amount of time. I understand why people consider them an "investment", however, it will be more like an emotional keepsake rather than investment item that is liquid enough for you to easily sell at desperate times.

Agree on "investing in real estate = destroying the city." But not only city, the economy too. Look at Chinese ghost towns... everybody starts pouring money into real estate that no one lives in, but owns. Value will instantly drop. The stupid argument perpetrated by developer company "world is only getting smaller, and everybody is going to need home" may sound logical but it is wrong. You'd apply for mortgage to "invest", which nobody in 5 years could afford because of the artificially inflated market price. Let alone anybody would rent, because there is just too many supply for the lack of rent-able places.

[hOMEr_jAy]

Sport cars, watches, pieces of art etc. all depend on the demand in that specific market. An example of this is the classic furniture sector which took massive hits in the last years. Much of what was being offered has lost alot of value and only a small part of the original consumer base remains. Investing into these "exotic" goods is therefore either a hobby ("I love old cars!") or quite a large risk.

There´s an interesting anecdote about gold I read in a book: back in ancient Egypt a gram of bold would get you around 10 loafs of bread. Nowadays a gram of gold will also get you around 10 loafs of bread.

While the demand for gold is currently on the rise it would be a bad idea to invest into it. But as a long-term way of "parking" some of your savings it is regarded as quite useful. 

[LuckyOne]

There´s an interesting anecdote about gold I read in a book: back in ancient Egypt a gram of bold would get you around 10 loafs of bread. Nowadays a gram of gold will also get you around 10 loafs of bread.

While the demand for gold is currently on the rise it would be a bad idea to invest into it. But as a long-term way of "parking" some of your savings it is regarded as quite useful.

That's a quite interesting point. But then again there was not much use for gold in ancient times (yes you had the posh Pharaoh that wanted to sit on a gold plated throne while wearing a gold plated hat and eating cake from a gold plated plate, but he was what - one guy?).

In the modern times with all the gadgets that need gold to make them work (and an ever increasing amount of them!) I think that it's a fair bet it will get somewhat more valuable as time goes on. (at least until space mining becomes viable). Surely it will not make you rich but it'd say it's a good way of keeping the value of your savings in the green, as opposed to red with some riskier investments...

[Alubat]

afaik demand on classic sport cars will only increase

Coffee, Cacao, Diabetes medicine industri
In Germany maybe invest in future energy industries : windmill parks, solarpanel parks etc. Could also be a good investment I think

Isnt China & Putin buying all the gold they can get ?

[Slayer]

Nowadays, them banks try to sell you all these "ethical investment funds" or "welfare funds" because those are in fashion right now. Bah humbug. If you - like me - are not looking to make a world a better place, then go for a "malfare fund" (not available, so build your own portfolio). Weapons. Security services. Alcohol.

I'm sure some will be ready with the SJW argument again, but I strongly disagree on this. Investing in stuff which kills other people is not only ecxtremely selfish, it is also justifying wars which are money-driven events only.

I want to invest money for my kids so they can go to the universitry when they reach that age. I surely don't want to "earn" that money at the cost of the lives of other people.

In before the argument that what I eat/wear/etc. also kills people: if it actually does, then it will be at least not as directly as with weapon industry. Also, I need to eat otherwise I will be dead. I don't need to invest spare money, really.

I sincerely hope the majority of clearly thinking people will invest money in other industries than the ones you propose, Kelmola. If you don't want a better world, then please don't enforce the bad stuff of the world we have now on others.

[NTH]

At this moment it is more valuable to pay off any debt you have then save money. Money is cheap at the moment.
If you pay 5% interest rate for an loan/mortage/what-have-you  and your saving account gives you 1%, you will be better off spending money on minimizing your debt.

[Zoologic]

In before the argument that what I eat/wear/etc. also kills people: if it actually does, then it will be at least not as directly as with weapon industry. Also, I need to eat otherwise I will be dead. I don't need to invest spare money, really.

I sincerely hope the majority of clearly thinking people will invest money in other industries than the ones you propose, Kelmola. If you don't want a better world, then please don't enforce the bad stuff of the world we have now on others.

Actually, if you invest in unregulated investment funds such as hedge funds, you will never know where you'll money go.

My brother characterise it as "underground economy", even the government doesn't know where the money go, so it doesn't count in GDP or that kind of statistics. It destroys capitalism from within. Stupid greedy people does that. Look at what The Economist say:

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/02/economist-explains-0

The stupid government only looks at regular Banks, which are already regulated. They don't look at their other special vehicles or fancy stuff tailored to demanding rich customers. If you wondered how they could contact shady secretive firm somewhere in Panama, it is through these kind of channels. Perhaps their private banker take the initiative to introduce them to these firms, catering not only to rich people, powerful family, athletes, celebrities, but also narcotic cartel bosses. I don't know how you should feel about that, but for me, it is like being in the same house with child molester.

[hOMEr_jAy]

In Germany maybe invest in future energy industries : windmill parks, solarpanel parks etc. Could also be a good investment I think

Better don´t. The German government has subsidised the whole "regenerative energies"-sector and has therefore created a huge bubble that burst, when China subsidised its own sector even more. "Big" German companies that were supposed to be reliable went bankrupt because of this because (SURPRISE!) production costs in Germany are waaaaay higher than in China...lots of people lost quite a lot of money.
Just because someting is government-endorsed, doesn´t mean it´s a sound investment...

That's a quite interesting point. But then again there was not much use for gold in ancient times (yes you had the posh Pharaoh that wanted to sit on a gold plated throne while wearing a gold plated hat and eating cake from a gold plated plate, but he was what - one guy?).

Wasn´t gold used to mint coins even back in ancient Egypt? Having a "gold-backed" currency was actually common until the introduction of "paper currencies" and the Bretton-Woods-Agreement. But still, the way the demand for gold fluctuates with other economic factors shows how even to this day it might be a good long-term way of saving your money.

Actually, if you invest in unregulated investment funds such as hedge funds, you will never know where you'll money go.

In the 90s and early 200s there has been a big boom with alternative investments in Germany. Suddenly lots of "independent consulting companies", such as AWD, MEG and others appeared and convinced people to give up their life insurance contracts and invest money into leveraged blind-pool investments. They promised totally unrealistic returns (often over 20% or more) and "super safe high-class investments". What they in-fact did, though, was use their clients money to get a large loan and then "invest" into e.g. British life insurances or projects that never were realised. The whole thing was basically a Ponzi-scheme where a constant flow of new investors was needed. Once that didn´t work out anymore, the whole thing just collapsed and many people lost their savings...offically everything was legal, but you can definately question a "consults" motivation if he convinces old people to surrender their money for something like this...