Want to find a Legitimate Investment?

Even so, a recent study questions the conventional claim on potential returns for art. But a study that employed a painstaking analysis of public art trades over 56 years questioned conventional claims on potential returns. Critics of the study say that they judge the success of trades by individual transactions, many of which are private with prices never publicly disclosed. In general, investors are told to expect returns of about 8 percent a year, which is in line with expected returns from the stock market.

This option is attractive — after all, who wouldn’t want payments to do double duty? But it comes with some caveats. Sometimes projections of potential earnings are inflated. As you walk through the streets, plenty of salesmen offer a way to return to paradise at an amazingly low cost. All in all, a term insurance policy may be a safer bet. Also, companies generally charge fees to administer the accounts. These policies can cost up to eight times more than term policies that offer the same coverage. You go to a sunny resort, and you never want to leave.

If you don’t see any bad years in the sales information for the investment, check how far the returns outstrip returns on the stock market. Watch for pitches that stir those emotions. Pitches for these types of investment opportunities often appear when the stock market is faltering; salesmen look for investors who are wary of losses in the stock market, and they show numbers to build confidence. The expert view on why investment fraud succeeds is that the sales pitches for these investments play on people’s fear or greed. If they consistently outperform the market, think twice.

To some people, losing a dollar on a lottery ticket is an acceptable risk. Other types of investments stand a greater chance of losing money or holding steady. The idea of risk in investments is largely a matter of perception. To others, losing a few million dollars on the chance that a cup of coffee will cost more next year is an acceptable risk. Even so, some types of investments consistently make more money than others.