You Gotta Try This!

It came to me in my sleep last night. The political / economic environment is offering an unprecedented investment opportunity with a massive return that is more or less guaranteed.

Typically investors keep the investment opportunities with guaranteed massive returns to themselves but when I woke up this morning I was comfortable with my belief that sharing this approach won't erode my chance to dramatically increase the value of MY money, even if you choose to increase the value of YOUR money doing the same thing.

Shortly after the stock market crashed, I sold some property and put $22,000 into mutual funds. It made my wife nervous because everyone was trying to run away from stock but I figured the market had already crashed and the right time to buy is when everyone else wants to sell. It's less than a year later and my $22,000 investment is worth right at $30,000! I made over 30% in less than a year. Crazy gains (the best of my life) yet this thing I came up with last night promises an even better return (and would you believe at less risk?)

Before I can give you the exact plan you need a little background.

This is my second pass through screwed up economic times. My first one was in the 80's and although it wasn't as severe (on paper) as times are now, it was significant. We did the whole "lose your jobs, lose your house, struggle to get by" thing back then and it was about the same time we were getting new babies.

I remember worring about the babies while living on a anorexic budget that gave Michelle and I $14.50 a month for "discretionary and entertainment. I remember driving a $150 car that we called "the egg" (because it looked like one). It was an American Motors Pacer should have been embarrassing but it was transportation and it got me from my meager 2 bedroom apartment in the "white trash" part of town to my job that paid less than a sixth of what we make now.

You would think that $14.50 (not just fourteen dollars mind you, and the extra 50 cents had value when that's all you've got for a whole month of "date nights") would be impossible as an amount that had to cover a whole month of fun and games. Actually, in my memory, it was quite the opposite. We have fond memories of waiting with excitement for 50 cent night at the dollar theater when we would put the can of coke, a candy bar, and a box of Cracker Jack into Michelle's purse and have a romantic evening together that set us back less than two dollars. (We learned you can do one of those every week on the month and still have enough left for an intimate dinner together if you work off the dollar menu).

Now it is decades later. The kids are all grown and married. We're done paying for school projects, college expenses and weddings. We've reached that magical time when our money is ours and we have some extra to invest. As a result I spend a bit-o-time pondering possible investments (which is why I came up with this one - and it's a doosey).

Follow these steps:

1. Figure out how much you can afford to leverage this month (you need to do this quickly because the economy could turn and spoil the opportunity) and get it out of the bank in $100 dollar bills. If you can only afford one it will work but if you can come up with four it will yield quadruple results (and don't think for a second I got past quadruple without the help of a spell checker).
   
2. Put each $100 bill in an envelope.
   
3. Seal each envelope.
   
4. Search your memory and come up with the names of some folks who are struggling through the current tough times the way I did back in the 80's. People who just don't have anything left at the end of the month. Folks who are a bit long on stress and a bit shot on joy. If you can't think of any ask your friends or your preacher (there are plenty of them out there - they aren't hard to find).
   
5. Write that person's name on one of the envelopes.
   
6. Give the envelope to someone else and have it delivered to the person who's name is on the envelope.

Bingo! Instant massive return on your money. If you can scrape up just one envelope worth of investment it will INSTANTLY turn into a crazy winfall. The person you gave it to could no more scrape up an extra hundred than you could come up with another million. Think of the value of that envelope in their hands compared to what it's worth to you. Now THAT's a return on investment. No problem with annual yields. No tax implications on the capital gains. No concerns about loss of principal. Just instant and unprecidented leverage.

Well?

What are you waiting for? Go get some envelopes!