Ammo or high capacity magazines. They ain't getting cheaper. Or focus on things that are at risk for local or federal bans, like AKs and ARs and FALs... For the last 20 years, we are always only a few Senators or a President or a SCOTUS Justice away from a total gun ban (or near total gun ban). It'll be this way for the coming future. We have nearly 1/2 of our Senate as anti-gun, an anti-gun President, 4 (out of 5) anti-gun SCOTUS Judges, and a President who is nearly sure to appoint one more anti-gun Justice before his term ends in 3 years.
IMO The times of blindly putting $ into a fund and forgetting about it are long gone. And people always want to cite the *successful* funds. There are 100 unsuccessful stocks and funds for every one that is successful. Just like Las Vegas, everyone only thinks they are going to "win" or make money in Vegas and in the markets. Not true. Like Vegas, the markets have winners AND losers. The winners in the markets know what they are doing and devote lots of time and money trying to time the markets.
It's often said that a good idea has 1,000 fathers, but a bad idea is an orphan. The same holds true for investments. Heck, giants like General Motors would have failed BUT FOR a bailout. I knew of an investor that had $33,000,000. He had 1/2 of it in MCI WorldCom and 1/2 in Level 3 Communications - against advice to diversify. He made most of that money in those companies during the tech bubble of the 1990s. He also lost everything when the market collapsed. Where are those companies today? Ever heard of a company called Colt? Another failure. Companies fail.
Our markets are fraught with too much corruption, global uncertainty, market manipulation, cooked books, fake reportings, insider trading, arbitrary laws that prop up some industries etc. Wall street is full of Bernie Madhofs. Having worked in that world, I developed a TON of mistrust in anything the NASD or Fed Reserves oversees. Those 'markets' are designed to get the top people wealthy on the backs of the working poor who pour money into the markets and get run over... Sure, you may make some gains, but then get crushed when the market falls 50% in a week.
Take the Nasdaq for instance. Had you invested in the NASD in 2000, you would have bought at 4500 and it's at 4000 today, so you'd be down about 20% after 13 horribly rocky years, in which you were never in positive territory. After 13 years of having your money tied up in terrible uncertainty and huge losses, you're still down on your investment.
Take the DOW, going back to 2000, when it was about 10,000. Now granted it has gone up 1/3rd in 13 years and sits around 15000 today. However, look at the fluctuation and what you would have weathered in that time; assuming you didn't need the money or panic and pull out. Oh, and there's also taxes to pay on gains. I learned long ago the value in having a tangible object.
And NOW, times are much different; 17 Trillion debt, global wars and terrorism are regular, and our entire economy is different.
Meanwhile, over the same period, gold and silver went up 5 or 10 fold and even more at their heights. Gold was around $300 and silver around $4 an oz in 2000. Gold has recently been as high as $1900 and silver $50 an oz.
Had you dumped money into evil guns, ammo, and high cap mags at any of the low periods (like now) in the last 13 years, you could have tripled your money during a few periods in 2008, 2009, and 2012/13. I expect that more of these spikes await us.
To keep this gun related, if you want to ensure he has guns available - buy it now.
Nearly every day someone here says "I wish I would have bought XYZ when it was available..."
The writing is on the wall. Gun control is in our future. The dollar weakens faster every year with our inflation, debt, and printing, which erodes that potential "8% return" in the markets.
I'd be pouring $ into the gun stuff I think is going to be on the chopping block while you can still cheaply get it. Today, AR15s are back down to $700. AR15 mags are $9. AK47s are $600 or less. AK mags are down to $5 again. Sorry, but that's where the smart money goes. Buy cheap and stack deep my friend. We're in for some rocky times in the next decade.
