Your Best Bet for Making Money in a Bad Market

Investors are creatures of habit and most are accustomed to making money from their
investments - and the more money they make, the happier they are. Fortunately, investors have
plenty of choices when it comes to making money, so when one market heads south, they simply
shift their investing strategy to an investment that will make them the most money and life goes
on.
But how do you make money when all the markets tank at the same time?
Investors are finding out that many of the faithful investment opportunities they've relied on for
strong, consistent growth have turned on them. Here are just a few of the investment choices
you have to choose from - and your prospects for making money in a down market:
• Stock Market - From Individual Retirement Accounts to 401K retirement plans, mutual
funds, and day trading, millions of Americans have pinned their financial futures to the
performance to the stock market. Until recently it seemed like a good bed for rapid
equity appreciation. The market was headed straight up and life was good. Then the
bottom fell out and these investors discovered the stock market's dirty little secret: You
can lose your shirt in just a few disastrous trading sessions. It doesn't matter how many
shares you own or how undervalued you believe your stock to be. You're betting on the
value of paper going up consistently over time. Short term volatility is the word of the
day and - depending on when you get into the market - you could lose money for a very
long time. For instance, there was almost no growth in the market from the 1960s to the
1980s, and in a lot of cases, you would have seen better growth by putting your money
in a passbook savings account and watching it grow one penny at a time.
• FOREX trading - Another choice that has gained in popularity during the past few years
is currency trading. In case you're not familiar with currency trading, the value of the
dollar fluctuates on a daily basis with other currencies of the world. If you successfully
place your bets and buy at the right time - or hedge your bets and gamble that a foreign
currency will gain or lose value compared to the dollar - you stand to make a ton of
money fast. Unfortunately, the biggest winners are very good at what they do and they
best in the business lose nearly as much as they win. Unless you have immaculate
timing you can be yet another one of the casualties of FOREX trading.
• Starting a Business or franchising - When the market is bad, some investors decide to
start a business of their own or buy into a franchise opportunity thinking that name
recognition will guarantee their success. Unfortunately, franchises will charge you up to
$50,000-$100,000 for the privilege of putting up a sign. Then you have to invest in a
building, inventory, hire employees, and hope against hope that you've chosen the right
franchise in the right location at the right time. If you do everything right, you've won
the right to stay in business and manage a time-intensive facility that has to adhere to
corporate rules, purchasing requirements, etc. - with no guarantee that you'll even be
able to turn a profit. And that's assuming you can even get in. Most franchise
opportunities will require that you have sterling credit. If it's not, you could be out in
the cold.
• MLM - Americans have an affinity for buying magic potions, lotions, and pills in the
hopes that what ails them can be cured overnight. Some investors decide to take a whirl
at making money with one of these schemes only to discover the truth: While you can
make money in MLM, most don't. And by getting involved in MLM an awful lot of
investors discover that there are minimum purchases required, many MLM opportunities
push you to sell to your friends, family, or anyone you have even a passing acquaintance
with, and your "guaranteed" riches can disappear in the blink of an eye if the company
goes under or someone in your "upline" quits or fails to make it.
These investments can be more than a little scary, so a lot of would-be investors turn to real
estate for solid growth opportunities and the hope for a more profitable future. Even in a terrible
market, you can make money in real estate investing. That's a tremendous draw for a real estate
investor, because most other opportunities are losing money right now - with little chance for
turning a profit.
By investing smart, you can reduce much of the risk that real estate can pose. While all
investments come with a certain amount of risk - and uneducated investors manage to lose
money every day - you have much more control over your destiny. This is true even in a down
market.
And real estate investing makes it possible to turn a profit at every turn - when you buy, if you
hold, and again when you sell. In addition, if your investment doesn't perform the way you had
hoped when you made your initial investment, you can make money by exercising good
judgment and dumping the property on the open market.
The investment choices I listed above aren't necessarily bad choices even in a bad market. But
they do have a lot of limitations that can inhibit your ability to be profitable.
Probably the best reason for pulling the trigger today on real estate investing is the fact that
you're in control every step of the way. Instead of taking your chances and hoping for the best,
go with an investment that lets you decide how, when, and where to invest. You don't have to
have perfect credit to play the game and the more you play the better you'll get.
So turn the corner today and start reaching for your financial goals. Real estate investing is the
vehicle you'll use to reach your financial destiny. So get in, buckle up, and hang on. Your best
bet for making money in a bad market is not to gamble. Put your money on a sure winner. Real
estate investing has created more millionaires with less risk than any other investment out there.
Will you be the next one?