Where to Invest $1m - If I had $1m to invest.... where would I invest it now?

I posted this question on various groups in my linked in... and got some interesting ideas. I hope that this would interest you. It would be great to get your comments

Have an awesome 2010!!


Bob Di Cerbo

A recent (2009) New York Times article states that “If you can find the right film executives, people who consider themselves fiduciaries more than producers, it (investing in a present day independent movie) is one of the best bets you can make right now.”

David M Brockes

Might I suggest your future; actually all of our future to some degree.
We are a small R&D Company that has developed a new high efficiency Hydrokinetic Water Current Energy System to produce Electricity from moving water. Fully submerged, 100% Environmentally and Marine friendly; scalable to needs dependent upon velocity of water flow. Highly productive from 5kW to 450kW each unit. 1000's of miles of existing Canals and Channels where systems can be installed without added costs. Looking at ROI's of 10 to 15 months, high rate of return for as long as you stay with us.
System also does Water Purification, Irrigation or Industrial Pumping or we will be able to do Desalination with a little more work.
Also branching out into Solar and will soon offer a Solar Panel that will have 41% certifiable efficiency and cost less than panels available today. Home owners and Businesses will actually have a true and reasonable ROI.
So do you want a real return on your money and put it to work for all of mankind? Would like very much to talk with you if your interested.

Shu Ge

I would suggest on property. Two cities in China are good choices: Nanjing in Jiangsu province and Wenzhou in Zhejiang province.

Nuong Doan

There are wide range of areas in Vietnam market if you want to invest
RE (office building, apartment, hotel, commercial center...)
Securities
Private Equity ( M&A...)

vipin kumar

Would you be interested in private equity seed funding in India? 30X return on your investment is available.

Rick Lange

I would suggest for a million dollars to do a few bridge investments for companies who could benefit from it. I have seen the interest rates range from 10-20% with warrants on a 6 month loan. Collateralize by asset of the company or a PG from an owner. The wealthy that have cash are making quite a bit putting their money into the companies themselves. Since funding has basically at a screeching halt, companies have very little to choose from. Just a thought.

Janet McGinty
Mattresses. So people who have lost heaps in the GFC can have a good nights sleep!!


Justin Rosenberg

Retail public truck washes - automated machines from the US (Interclean) - distributed by www.autowash.com.au - was trucks in 2 minutes! It's about to revolutionise truck washing, just like car washing a few years ago. We're setting up the first Truck Wash fund to back Autowash recommended sites. A rare opportunity to get infrastructure type risk in venture capital. Our first 3 sites are funded but we're noting interested parties for subsequent sites. It takes us 12 months to get our sites ready (DA, leases etc) - we have 5 more A grade sites in the pipeline. We've partnered with ex-Truck operators who have got the freight companies on board.


David Drake

We are looking for deal flow in seed financing and partnership building for our growing internet fund LDJ Venture Capital


We have since 2007 grown to a dozen internet company holdings and start ups (please see www.LDJCapital.com/portfolio.php). I'm now reaching out as we have added a few more Managing Directors (www.LDJCapital.com/team.php) and we are looking for better quality deal flow to seed. I figured I should reach out to a few select acquiantances first.


We seek start up internet companies that has at least one outline of a business plan and an executive team lined up. It must be a person you like. We have no geographic preference.

We would add most value by investing as a VC towards development, marketing, lead generation, advertising, channel distribution and implementation costs. We want to add eight projects 2010 and invest between $250,000 to $2 million in seed financing per project.

I wouldn't be surprised if you had something yourself to present to our growing team of Managing Directors.

Gary Landa
President The Business Place Ltd
My website http://www.thebusinessplace.com has busineses for sale from all over the world which have been posted by individuals or by brokers.

Rohit Gupta
Turtle Republic - Director (You're Friendly IT Neighbourhood)

You are already showered with lots of options.. hence your investment should be based on couple of parameters.

1. Term of Investment.
2. Expected ROR over Investment Term.
3. Security you are looking for your investment.
4. Regional Economy Stability.
5. Growth & Stability of Targeted Investment Portfolio.

There are more parameters which I would leave for you to hunt and zero in.

Roland Clarke PhD

Might I suggest that you take a good look at renewable energy "projects." While there has been a focus on RE and clean energy "technology" companies, there is opportunity to invest in projects that develop the markets. In order to make investment decisions concerning projects, you may wish to employ well known project analysis software tools for such purposes. One such tool is RETScreen.

James Kelley

If you have 1 million to invest, I would like to speak with you about investing in a company that is due to launch a new software product on Feb. 15, 2010. This company has solved the challenge of making money from social neworking. Hundreds of millions have been invested in companies like Facebook, Twitter, etc., but these companies have only been able to generate revenue from advertising. My client's approach is unique, highly profitable and they are in the process of protecting it with a patent.

Suny Fan

i like shares and funds the most, especially we had a major bust last yr, some analyst predict a growth rate of 20%. property in my opinion is a bit inflated atm, and with interest rate going up, it doesn't look too good, that said, capital gain will be :S but rental income will still grow due to population demands. as for IT infrastructure and web 2.0, they are both great with the later a bit more riskier. but if you had $1m, DIVERSIFY!

Ashwin Shah
Take a partnership with indian company involved in IT like Designing like software,Web design & development,Architectural Services, Civil Engineering, Structural Engineering & all, because man power & technology both r good & in advance, u know outsourcing project's r more in demand as every one want's to save their investment & earn more,& if im on wrong track im sorry

Naeim Alkoky
i saw some people making fortune in the stock market(funds & shares) and i saw many more losing millions as well, however my advice is :
for shares, fund :
- Don't invest any money you "may" need in the near future ( in less than 1 year),it is long time investment
- Make sure to invest in the right companies (not over-priced , in good financial shape, and have reasonable fixed assets ...)

web 2.0 and IT : it can be very rewarding if you know what you are doing (or at least someone you trust), some connection will be good for the business as well , however there is alot of competition. outsourcing is not a good idea especially if you are totally counting on it , i had bad experiance with companies claimed they can do what they didn't even had resources to do. so better to not count on that.

properties are the safest investment especially prices are low this days (somehow ) .


Brian Davies
I think your question is wrong. If you can identify an investment where the NPV is positive, including financing costs and a realistic hurdle rate, then it doesn't matter if you have the $1m or not. If the investment is a positive NPV, then you should finance the investment anyway.

However, I'll assume you know (roughly) what your goals are and have done your research into the various options.

If your goal is to maximise return, then go with the investment with the greatest NPV (I'm assuming that you include risk in the hurdle rate).

If your goal is to make the world a better place, then you could consider things like "green technology" (renewables, solar, wind, etc.)

Perhaps micro-loans are more your cup of tea:
Without knowing your goals, it is difficult to provide advice, but I believe that everyone is entitled to _my_ opinion. :-)

Ibrahim Emul
ERP/CRM Consultant – Accenture

Generally the property investment provides steady returns next couple years. So if you expect higher returns other options are worth to examine. But if you are a type of person who wants security in his life, than property market is the best.

The shares reached similar values recently as they left 2 years ago. So I expect the opportunity is not huge in shares either.

My idea is similar with Brian, but instead of micro loans I prefer to become a partner or associate in a smaller company or a new initiative.

I checked your recent role - as "Director at Pulse Property Research Pty Ltd", then I would suggest you to become a partner in one of those private property equity firms - there are dozens in Australia - or directly invest yourself. But 1 million is not huge and not worth to take the high risk to play in property

Roy Salisbury
I think that the economy has a ways to go but if you have a hypothetical million to invest I would look at transactions which have cash flow and a highly defensible market. A hot industry is renewable energy and there are some very proven technologies that can bring a good return with managed risk. The challenge is to work thru the due diligence
market alone.

Sumit Ahuja
VP Sales and Strategy
No Doubt in emedia Innovations / IPTV / Convergence between online media and Advertising

Perryn Slighting
Who really knows and I am a novice investor. I'd go with property as a primary vehicle, most certainly leveraged but with buffer funds to support. I'd also build a share portfolio for some balance as the market covers ground to recover it's former position. As for funds, I really do not know. I am interested to follow this discussion and I do not have $1m to invest; even if you have $100k to invest, is all the same to you as an individual?
Charles Chapman
Experienced CEO,CFO and CIO providing you with solutions
I am no financial advisor, but any amount that you want to invest needs to be treated in the same manner. You first need to have an investment plan that takes all the good things like diversification, income/growth etc into account.

On the leverage side, you most definitely do not want idle assets, so you should (based on your plan) make use of leverage.

Here are 2 links worth reading:

The Motley Fool - http://bit.ly/8kbCZW

NAB Investment Strategies - http://bit.ly/7BAEAp


Jorge Efentakis

I am no Financial Planner and please do not take this as financial advice but I would consider this approach - 1) what is the goal I am trying to meet with these funds 2) what is my risk profile?
Depending on the answers to the above 2 questions I would then decide what to invest in and in what proportion.
Assuming that the funds are to be used for retirement purposes in say 10 years time, assuming you have a risk profile receptive of volatility and also assuming that you do not want to invest in super, and also assuming you do not wish to use the funds for a bigger home (capital gains free) then I would consider investing 1) 50% in direct residential property because you have direct control of the asset and an overall long term return similar to shares 2) the other 50% I would consider investing in shares in a mix to replicate closely the All ordinaries index. I would avoid Managed Funds due to fees and due to unexpected capital gains you may be hit with.

If your risk profile is high risk then I would keep the proportions 50/50 between shares and property but would gear the share portfolio to the extent of 40%.

The above is simply food for thought and is a simplistic opinion because there are a lot of additional factors which I am not aware of around your financial position that would impact the decision.

Suggest get some recommendations for a decent Financial Planner and have the planner draw up a plan based on your specific needs.