> Some more high level rambling: I am generally sceptical about real > estate as an investment vehicle. > 1. Returns are notional unless you sell the real estate in question > (this is true of all investments to some level, modulo annuities such as > dividends) > 2. Especially for salaried people who fund it with a loan, interest > costs can often drive up your invested amount, which affects how you > compute returns. > 3. Taxes can eat away a chunk of any returns.
I agree, though I see a very large percentage of my friends and family in India hold the exact opposite view. Not really supported by facts but rather a "firm belief" and historical data. > Regarding other vehicles, I am of the belief that it is almost > impossible to avoid making money on the stock market as long as your > investment horizon is longer than 10 years, and you follow some basic > precautions. One way to automate those precautions is to stick to index > funds. "impossible to avoid making money" - very interesting construction. Given my family situation we cannot invest in most shares for now but mutual and index looks appealing from risk perspective. I have also just yesterday started to dabble in BTC speculation purely out of curiosity :) -skn-
