Sep
The Eternal Question: Should I invest in stock market or real estate?
Each type of investments has their own merits and demerits. These merits and demerits are dependent on the character of the investor. The stock market and real estate are different from each other in many aspects. Each has the ability of capturing the fancy of any investor depending upon the nature of the particular investor. The decision on whether to invest in the stock market or real estate lies on the investor. The following will present some arguments that address the question which is should I invest in stock market or real estate?
They both have the ability to provide substantial return on your investments. Thus choosing between them on that measure is not easy. However there are several other characteristics that make these two investment types totally different from each other. Another similarity is that they are both subject to the vagaries of the business cycle. The advantage real estate has here is that land is more or less universal and there are only a few parameters to judge the quality of the land on. Analyzing stocks are far more complicated and can remain unfavoured by investors for a long time especially if they do not understand the business processes of the companies. Therefore coming out of a bad cycle, land can go up in price in almost every case whereas the same is not true for the various stocks. These are some of the similarities when considering the question should i invest in the stock market and real estate.
The other major dissimilarities are the lack of hands on approach in stock market investing. When you are buying stocks, you are essentially buying a share of the company. The company already has a management to take care of the daily operations of the company. You do not need to be involved as the part owner of the business. When you are buying a piece of land, any decision about the land will be taken by you. You can initiate the development of the property and thus play an active part in driving the valuation of your land. This sort of freedom is not available when you invest in the stock market as you have no other option but to sit back and hope the management takes all the correct decisions. This is a particular dissimilarity that you have note down when considering the question should i invest in the stock market. The level of analysis you have to undertake as an investor in the stock market is important if you want to find out what stocks are good to invest in. A real time stock ticker will definitely help you in this regard. There is not price ticker in a real estate market.
The stock market offers higher liquidity an investor. The investor can sell any stock immediately in the stock market due to the advancement of technology as trading happens electronically. This level of liquidity is difficult to achieve in real estate as it takes effort to find the appropriate buyer and the appropriate price. To evaluate the question should i invest in the stock market, you have to list out the various merits and demerits of each investment type and then decide which type appeals to you the most. Once you have chosen this, you can apply majority of your time and effort to that type of investment and thus profiting from your choice.
Arkaitz Arteaga MarketStock.net


September 10th, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Which type of investment provides a higher return on investment?
September 10th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Both the types of investment provide almost similar levels of return on your investment as history suggests. This makes it difficult to choose between the two types.