Make 8% to 200% returns on your money

If you have the cash on hand you can make high returns with limited risk. Rich people get richer because they have money and they put that money to work at the highest return they can get within their risk tolerance level. You can too.

The banks are paying less then 3% for money on deposit. You can get higher returns then that: Some insurance annuities are paying up to 8%, postponing collecting social security pays 7.9%. some county governments around the country are paying 18% , Some stocks are paying dividends of 6% to 16% plus stock market gains. Some real estate limited partnerships are paying 6% to 20%, investing in real estate can pay in the 15% to 200% plus and so the list goes on.

I will briefly go over a few of these investment vehicles. Those of interest to you should be investigated further before making the plunge. Even tho I am being brief this is a long post so bare with me.

With the current state of the American economy we can reasonably speculate on the future based on the past. We can also count on the fact that people will do what they have to do to progress financially and to protect their assets. The US government has accumulated considerable debt and huge future obligations that will have large influences on governmental actions in the future. You can look at monetary history and make some predictions. For instance.

The government will revitalize real estate to prevent a collapse because they financed most of it. That is why home loans are so inexspensive. (There are approximately 750,000 home forecloses being held off the market, they are being released slowly to help prevent a further price erosion.) They, the Fed,will raise interest rates eventually because they can not prevent inflation or deflation if they don't. They will raise taxes because they have to pay down the debt or at least stop the debt growth before the dollar collapses. Wall street will push up stock prices (as they have been doing) because the banks need it to happen, the government needs the capital gains taxes, and the money people are putting into 401K and IRA's need a place to go every day of the week. As do the endowments, retirement systems, the pension plans and private investor money, they all are seeking a home, a place to earn a return.

You can count on everyone doing what is in their economic best interest. Thus savings will increase, credit will rebound, house prices will recover, and everyone will chase the dollar. The very good news is there is more dollars floating around then ever before, I mean trillions of dollars more then two years ago. You just have to decide how much of them you want, then go after them. All that money will cause inflation, how do you take advantage of inflation? How do you protect yourself from inflation? Real estate prices are down, how do you take advantage of that? Some folks are over extended, and some government entities are over extended, how do you take advantage of that?

Every cloud has a silver lining and sunny days are followed by more clouds. Our country is in a cloudy period and you have to figure out how to take advantage of that fact. More money is made in bad times then good times. This is because there are fewer players when everyone is running scared and that depresses prices creating buying opportunities. Had you purchased stocks last February 2009 you would have doubled your money in six months. Those big stock market gains are gone now, but other opportunities remain and will for about the next two years. Then those opportunity for large gains will slowly diminish as everyone gains confidence and inflation forces them to take risk to protect their money. Once all the players return to the game your opportunity gets diminished.

Gold: This monetary commodity is is headed up. Companies are buying up gold on the cheap (all those late night broken gold commercials) and holding it for the expected increase. You can buy gold or gold stocks and wait for the increase to $2,000 an once. The price should double in three to five years. I give this one a 50/50 chance.

 Stock dividends, you can buy stocks that have historically paid out very good dividends. You should have your broker look at the utility stocks and have them look for any stock that has a twenty year dividend paying track record, plus a history of increasing the dividend every year, and stocks that has a history of liquidity as a business, and as a stock. There are not many, but you only need a few. Here are a few very good dividend paying stock picks to get you started: ADM, LOW, BDX, INTC, XOM and ADP . ADP is the (Motley Fool's favorite pick). 6% to 16% is not unusual and you have a stock play also. This is my favorite way to play the market because I can win twice, with little down side risk. If you do not know what all this means it is OK! Your stock broker will know what you want when you read this to them, or just type the stock symbols into google search.

IRA's: If you are under age fifty and have not converted your traditional IRA's to Roth's, shame on you. Roth IRA's are the best deal going. If you are over Fifty see your CPA and do the math on how a conversion will effect your long term IRA earnings. If you are like me and age 60 plus taking the tax deductions for a conventional IRA might be a better deal ( I payed $1,100 dollars less tax this year on a $4,000 IRA deduction). My point is, do the math, find out what will pay you the most based on your number of years to retirement. One thing is for sure, you can count on higher taxes in the future and that makes Roth's very enticing. This one is a 100% must do deal for all retirement minded investors. The only better place then a Roth IRA is a 401K where your employer is matching you 50% or more.

Best places for Roth IRA investments? Growth mutual funds purchased from companies with twenty year historically proven track records of 12% long term returns, or better.

Real estate: So many ways to invest in real estate, direct investments, manged direct investments, self directed IRAs, LPs, RIETS, partnerships, tax sale auctions etc.

Most publicly traded RIETS are paying 6% they can be purchased just like any other stock.

Most private real estate investment limited partnerships are paying 8% plus, 15% is not uncommon. For more on private limited partnership read the articles on real estate syndication in the articles section or contact me directly.

Direct investing is the most profitable if you know what you are doing. Read the articles on this web site for information on how to be a real estate investor. The real estate investor trade magazines have lots of advertising from companies who will handle everything for you.

A 100% return. Currently there are many bank owned properties going for 50% off the prices of just two years ago. You could pick a nice home in a nice neighbor hood, buy it at auction or from one of the many real estate agents specializing in foreclosures, rent or live in it for two or three years and sell for a high profit return. Lets say you buy a $600,000 house for say $300,000, you pay $120,000 down and finance the balance. Three years later you sell it for $480,000. Your profit is $150,000 for an annual return of 41% and if you live in the house you could take a life time exclusion and pay no taxes on that profit. If you paid only $50,000 down you would have an effective 100% annual return or 300% over three years.

Tax lien certificates can pay 18% or more. There are many books on tax lien investing. To keep it simple you buy at auction a tax lien certificate on a specific property where the owner has not paid his taxes. Interest accumulates on the taxes owed and that is how you make your profit. When the taxes are paid you get paid by the county tax authorities or from the title company if the property is sold. Buy tax liens on nice houses in nice neighborhoods and your risk will be minimal. Start your research at Wikipedia then read a book or two to avoid any pitfalls. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_lien_sale

Social security if you are in that age group and do not need the money can make you right at 8% per year. Delaying taking your social security gives you a approximately 8% per year increase in your payout. If you are healthy, don not need the money, and have a family history that leads you to believe you will live a long life delaying taking that check can pay off. If you are already collecting doing a payback and refiling can get you that return. If you are married and a two earner family, you can have one spouse file for social security at age 62, the other collect on their spouses record then at age 66 they file on their record at the higher rate. Collecting an extra four years without loosing their own benefits.

There are a few more interesting rules that can be exploited to get more from social security. Start your research at http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/RetirementandWills/RetireInStyle/GetTheMostFromSocialSecurity.aspx Also Google “getting the most from social security” for a host of articles on this subject and there are a few good books on maximizing your social security.

Insurance annuities are not what I call an investment. Having said that, if you are of that certain age, and 8% returns with a 10% bonus are of interest to you, there are deals like that being promoted by reputable companies. One such agent has a radio show on WOAI radio in San Antonio, Texas every Saturday from 1:00 until 2:00.

There are many more places to put your money that pay high rates of returns. You can buy discounted first lien mortgages, even those toxic housing bundled loans are for sale. I hope I have whetted your appetite for further research and that you make a bundle with what ever you choose. Further reading on this web site Towardswealth.com is a good place to start.