Big difference in financing available and how the asset will be managed from afar and required money for barrier to entry.

They performed as stated however we later realized these were *NOT* the assets nor headaches we wanted to deal with.

Hard assets will be the place to be, real estate and gold, and if you can finance RE with a modest amount of low fixed-rate debt (no more than 65% LTV to ensure staying cash flow positive in the coming carnage), then all the better.1996 21.2%1997 31.3%1998 23.4%1999 23.6%2000 -10.9%2001 -11.0%2002 -20.9%2003 31.6%2004 12.5%2005 6.4%2006 15.8%2007 5.6%2008 -37.2%2009 28.3%2010 17.2%2011 1.0%2012 16.1%6/28/13 YTD 14.0%

What you seem to be considering is a short term purchase/financing arrangement (lease-option) for long term asset needs (buy-hold) which violates the first golden rule of financing assets, you need a long term financing arrangement to acquire for long term assets.Another point, with rates so low, they will be higher in 3-5 years.

But if you have reserves, those reserves are assets, not expenses.

q=landlord&o=date Is a great reminder of the reasons that we want to carry enough liability for our assets.

Having real, tangible assets makes me feel a whole lot better about the situation than relying on the stock market and a 401(k) to be useful.Speaking of podcasts, after listening to Podcast 14, I want to thank Ben Leybovich for the inspiration to aim high and be more specific and intentional in our business plan.

Must be something about the IT field -- I work with accounting software for a living.

Maybe you will get lucky, own it for the next 21 years, pay it off and actually have a valuable asset.

I have different asset classes in different states so there is a reason I am so spread out.