Alternative investments

In our modern era of "get rich fast or die trying" culture, investments promise both financial freedom and financial ruin both in equal measures to the unwary and the unprepared investor.

Why is this so?

There's a sucker born every minute
As the famous saying goes, "There's a sucker born every minute." Investment scams abound in today's world especially with the internet replacing face-to-face interactions with websites, URLs, forums, MSN, emails and electronic communications. This helps to create an environment where fraudsters, scammers and other unethical scoundrels can leverage on the internet to lure you, yes -- you! the unsuspecting investor with lures of low risk and high returns. "Sure-thing" type of investment products and packages.

In order for us to be equipped to know more about the risks of investing, especially in fraudulent schemes, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) has some useful resources for us to check out.

The BBB warns us to consider the following taken from http://www.bbb.org/alerts/article.asp?ID=358, article titled, "Investment Fraud Proliferates":

• Take your time before investing your money. Don't be pressured into buying. Be wary if you are urged to "buy now or forever lose your opportunity to profit."
• Research the investment opportunity. It's unlikely you will make money in a business deal you can't understand or verify.
• Find out about the company's reputation. Invest only in offers you know something about.
• Obtain all the information you can about the company and verify the data with impartial, outside sources. Contact the Better Business Bureau to get a reliability report on the company.
• Be extremely skeptical and cautious about any unsolicited phone calls you may receive about investments.
• Also, don't believe everything you read - or assume that all slick promotional materials and web sites offering investment deals are legitimate.
• Don't send money by overnight delivery or wire transfer, or authorize a credit card, payment or automatic debit to your bank account to anyone you don't know.
• If in doubt, do not part with your money. Seek professional advice."

One of the key reasons why people lose money to scams and fraudulent schemes is the lack of understanding of the investment product or scheme. We fall prey because of lack of knowledge and sometimes because of lack of due diligence on our part to find out more about what we are investing in.

Before you go on into the next "sure make" type of investment be it land banking, wine investments, paintings, commodities, practice what Confucious said, "know what you know and also know what you know not, that is true knowledge."

Be well and prosper.