In my 22 years as a real estate investor, I have seen residential, commercial, industrial, mixed-use, and hospitality products rise, fall, slide sideways and return healthy returns for the investors. The United States and the real estate market that supports our economy is the foundation for the majority of wealth in the world.
Until now...
The dark clouds on the horizon are nothing new if you are over the age of 40. You've already seen a recession or two, a couple of wars, and lines at gas pumps. What makes 2008 different? Won't we recover in a few years like always? Isn't the current decline of the housing market, stock market and increased job loss part of the cycle our economic professors told us about?
Micro and Macro economics aside, there are looming megatrends which are making predictions of a typical recovery harder to predict. History repeats itself. When you study the Roman, British, and Chinese empires, one has to admit that the USA is clearly losing its status as the dominant economic superpower. The meteoric rise of China and India, will overwhelm our spending and investing for the next hundred years. The United States has set itself on a course of self destruction largely due to our short sighted behavior, lack of savings, dependence on credit, and isolationist attitude.
I love Americans. I love my country. When you travel the world, however, you see that the rest of the world is growing, thriving, and expanding, while the USA staggers around and assumes that we'll grow out of our slump like have during all previous recessions.
This time is different.
With the exponential increase in energy costs, the price of nearly everything is increasing. Coupling inflation (Wow, we haven't been afraid of that for a while!) with our credit markets and the expansion of China and India delineates our power, prestige, control, and ability to recover. China will dominate the world economy in our lifetime.
- The value of our own dollar has crashed over 40% in the past 5 years.
- As of 2005, over 21% of our GDP was in the financial service segment.
- Housing values have dropped 5-30% across our nation.
- Foreclosures are higher than they were during the great depression.
Blah, blah, blah....
Other areas of the world are seeing tremendous growth. Nearly 50% of all equities are NOT US-based. In fact, since they don't register with the SEC, you will never even know about them. You see, there are strict laws about marketing monetary instruments to U.S. citizens...if it doesn't pass approval, you can't know about it. Ever hear of a 14% CD? I'm not talking about 1980, but right now? They are available, just not to US citizens. You have to be a "world" citizen to know about them.
Do you know of countries where the real estate has appreciated 36% in the past couple of years? "World" citizens know of areas where the economies are MORE stable than those in the USA and have STRICTER banking regulations that actually make their investments safer. Remember the Savings and Loan bail out of the 80's? People with $100K or less in their accounts were insured. But, if you had more than that, you lost-big time.
There are hundreds of opportunities in as many counties that are flourishing and whose economic base has not been hijacked by misguided governments and financial corporations. Unfortunately, seeking these out takes more than a casual look on the internet. Worse, your financial advisor is not ALLOWED to even know about these opportunities.
In the coming months, as I travel the world, I will be sharing these with you in the only format I can...a travel log. By sharing with you my currency trading platform (That gives me 5-12% ROI PER MONTH!), international CD's in the double digits, and other offshore investments, you will discover that the world is getting smaller, and it's high time we all wake up and become wise to what is happening beyond our borders.
There is nothing scary about investing internationally. The main hurdles will be getting over the fears that our own government and entrenched financial institutions have placed upon us. It is up to you to seek out the truth...not from advertisers, but from the very individuals who are living the dream. I will be introducing you to my friends; friends who have Swiss bank accounts, trade currencies safely, and invest in countries where the currency is strong, and the real estate values are growing. Stay tuned and keep your eyes open.
Doug Crowe
www.dougcrowe.com
Comments(4)