I have always encouraged people to save money and subsequently invest it. Do not be fooled though; it is not everything that you should invest in. You have to be very prudent, ensuring you do thorough research before making any investment. There are investment ideas worth pursuing and those that are not worth pursuing. In this article, I want to discuss those that are not worth pursuing. There are several types of business investments just so you know. Examples are growth investments, shares, property, fixed interests, and cash, amongst others. First off, let me touch on the ‘how’ part – how to determine whether an investment idea is worth pursuing.
How To Determine The Worthiness Of An Investment Idea
This is not the focus of this article so I will not delve much into that. Is the business idea addressing a widespread consumer problem? This hints on the potential of a big market. Many surveys have shown that most business ideas crumble solely due to the absence of a solid market. Entrepreneurship is about addressing human problems in a monetizable way. If a business idea does not fit that mantle then failure is inevitable. A business idea which has a hazy market is not worth investing in. Thus the short answer is RESEARCH – diligently research beforehand.
Determine market presence, look at the business model – is it sustainable and scalable? You must also evaluate the value proposition – is it unique and something many people are keen to explore. All the things I have talked here are interlinked i.e. they feed from and into each other. So these are some of the things you look at in determining the worthiness of an investment idea. It all starts by rigorously assessing the business idea itself. Let me now discuss some of the investment ideas that are not worth pursuing.
Hoarding
I have chosen to generalize because this applies to virtually any industry. Hoarding is speculative investing because it entails sourcing certain products and then holding onto them. You then sell them at a time when demand for the products spikes. A lot of people do this in so many ways. This pays off in some cases but the truth is it can also end in tears. This investment idea is at best speculative thus it is riddled with uncertainty – anything can happen. I would not encourage this investment idea because it is very precarious. Some of the common things people source, hold onto and sell later are farm produce and precious minerals e.g. gold.
Collectables
Investing in collectables is mainly the preserve of the ultra-rich. For instance, someone can buy a high-value painting costing US$10 million. The idea will be to buttress oneself from the scourge of inflation – that is one of the most common reasons. In some cases, such collectables can be auctioned later at a much higher price. One of the biggest reasons why this is not worth investing in is that your anticipation that your stuff will sell higher later is not cast in stone. It is even possible that your collectables might not even sell later at all. It comes back again to the recurrent point throughout this article – speculation. The market for collectables tends to be very small and uncertain. Being duped by being sold counterfeit items is one of the biggest risks in this domain.
Cryptocurrencies
I did not want to include it under the previous point because it stands alone. A lot of people are keen on investing in cryptocurrencies but I do not think they are worth it. Why? It is mainly because they involve lots of speculation. One day their value is sky high, the next day it plummets immensely – this level of uncertainty makes investing in cryptocurrencies a risky undertaking. There are over 700 different types of cryptocurrencies in the world. That looks to me like an indicator that cryptocurrencies should be handled with caution.
You probably have noticed that most of the investment ideas I discussed are mostly characterised by speculation. The other common denominator is that they promise very high returns on investment. Bear in mind that some do make these investments and they get huge returns. However, the vast majority sink and lose out big time. I appreciate that some might feel that these investment ideas are worth exploring. My encouragement is to not prioritize them if you are thinking of making worthwhile investments.
