Investment Articles

Touted as one of the world’s most desired investments that is not subject to taxation, fine wines have enjoyed a substantial rise in demand throughout the world over the past three decades and the UK is a key player in that market. The excellent wines selected by top wine investment firms in the UK have proven to be both a safe investment as well as a very profitable one. And to increase their value even more, as the demand for these selected wines grows the supply diminishes, which in turn makes the wine investment accrue value. Over the years the market has shown that the finite supply of fine wines produced each year lags behind the growing demand of those wines for investment or for drinking pleasure. Wines for investment have stood their ground amongst the most traditional investment schemes and even in an economic turndown, they have retained their value. Unlike many investments, fine wine is a tangible asset that should be considered as a strong addition to a financial portfolio. It is a precious bottled commodity waiting in storage until it is sold to the highest bidder. But while in storage, the wine continues to improve and accordingly, with fewer bottles left in storage the price and quality continues to rise. UK wine investors have an excellent array of wine merchants to assist with advice and trading through while taking advantage of the tax-free status of their investment.

Bordeaux as an Investment

Bordeaux wines have an excellent track record as being high quality wines that carry a low risk for investment. As an example, a bottle of 1982 Lafite Rothschild wine skyrocketed from a value of £2,600 in the year 2000 to a current selling price of £25,500. While this is an outstanding example, it is true that returns on the most sought after wines consistently reach at least 30% annually. The wines from Bordeaux are divided into five categories, with the first growths being the most sought-after category. The remaining categories represent the super second growths and the third, fourth and fifth growth wines. Some of Bordeaux’s top red wines are Haut Brion, Latour, Lafite Rothschild, Margaux and Mouton Rothschild. Although the wine can be consumed immediately, first growth wines require a minimum of 15-20 years to reach their full maturity, so careful storage in a bonded warehouse is an important consideration.

UK Top Wine Merchants

Wine merchants represent the top producing wine houses and provide all the information and services required for making a solid investment. There are a number of good merchants who are well established and come with a reputable track record for supplying high quality vintage, storage in a safe and bonded warehouse, managing the insurance and brokering the resale. The London based Bordeaux Wine Company is an independent brokerage firm that specializes in bottles of first growth Bordeaux coming from the top estates in France. The company, which has been trading wine for ten years, it carefully selects and buys choice wines through international auctions and lists them for sale online. The Bordeaux Wine Company is staffed with knowledgeable wine experts who guide investors through the entire process, from selecting the correct portfolio addition to managing the storage details, also well as advising when to sell. A major shareholder and partner in the firm, Frederick Achom, is a successful investment specialist who follows the international trends in the wine industry and uses his in-depth knowledge of the market to promote the addition of wine to investment portfolio managers, wealth managers, private bankers, hedge fund managers and asset management groups. Frederick Achom is also the chairman of Rosemont Group of Companies, a private entrepreneurial corporate investment firm with investments from wine to property to entertainment. Another leading UK broker is Premier Cru Fine Wine Investments Ltd, who also tailor personal portfolios to include the addition of fine wines. The company provides full management over the portfolio, provides detailed and updated valuations and distributes newsletters detailing current trends. As a full service company, it recommends storage facilities in a UK bonded warehouse that is customs controlled and ensures records of personal ownership. The UK Fine Wine Investments Ltd also specializes in first growths from Bordeaux and offers top quality tailored services through its team of brokers who analyze the market and make appropriate recommendations. Berry Bros, Albany Vintners, Wilkinson Vintners, Justerini and Brooks, Corney and Barrow and Farr Vintners are considered to be in the higher echelons of the wine trade and are amongst the most reputable and well established wine merchants in the UK.

Thomas Heler is based in the United Kingdom and is a writer and wine connoisseur. A wine investor himself, he likes writing about fine wine investment. An example of his writing can be found at Bordeaux Wine Company – Fine Wine Experts.

An independent investment advisor is someone who will help you with your long-term investment goals. They will handle all types of investing, which is usually done to plan for retirement. The earlier you get started on retirement planning the better, but in a lot cases, younger adults don’t think about these things.

The mentality of “I have plenty of time” is common among young people, yet if they took the time to get started early, it becomes a way of life that they don’t really even have to think about and by the time they reach retirement, they have a huge nest egg that can be the difference between struggling as an elderly person, or having a life that is stress free financially.

Independent investment advisors are trained in many aspects of investing. Some may specialize in stocks and bonds; others will be knowledgeable in precious metals or mutual funds. Most investment firms will have people who are knowledgeable in all aspects of investment options so they can give their clients the best possible advice for their investment choices.

Now there are some independent investment firms that will also help with financial planning and business planning as well, so if you have those needs, you can look for a place that keeps it all under one roof. That is probably the easiest if you can find a firm you like, because then all your interests are in one place and that makes keeping it organized so much easier.

Whenever you have a question about investments, business planning, or financial goals, your independent investment advisor will be there to help you sort things out and choose the right plan that fits with all of your goals. Knowing that the future of your family and yourself is secure, or being secured if you are just getting started, is truly a fantastic feeling.

In today’s economic uncertainty, having some security and stability in place can be the difference between keeping your home and losing it later in life when you need it most. Your investment advisor will be able to make sure you have all your bases covered and that every aspect of your financial life is secure.

Some questions to ask a potential investment advisor you are considering would be:

- What is their experience? Ask them to describe what they’ve done for others, and don’t be shy about asking for references. If they are good, they will be happy to pass that information on and should have it on hand.

- What are their qualifications? It is important to find someone who has documented experience in all aspects of investing and financial planning. Make sure they are up to date on the latest information and check them out with the Certified Financial Planner Board if they are certified.

- Find out what services the firm offers their clients.

- Get a feel for the investment advisor’s style. How do they like to do things? Are they aggressive and opinionated? Are they too passive and indecisive? Find a style that matches well with what you find calming and secure for you. Also find out if they are the ones who do all the work on your portfolio or if it’s given to others to do and they just oversee it.

Independent investment advisors are a real value to those who are ready to take hold of their future with both hands and make sure their families and themselves are safe and secure. When you find a good one, you should be sure to develop a good relationship with them, because they could be in your life for a long time to come.

Located on Houston, Texas Paul Comstock Partners is a fee only, private, independent, fiduciary and investment advisory firm. For more information call now 713-977-2694 or visit our website http://www.paulcomstockpartners.com/.

Green investing focuses on investing in companies and technologies that are deemed to be good for the environment. This includes individual companies that have a solid track record of reducing the environmental impact of their operations, as well as companies that offer alternative energy technologies such as solar and wind power. Green investors will also avoid investing in companies that have a negative impact on the environment, such as companies with poor emissions standards. Socially responsible investing is broader in its focus in that it considers companies that create a social and environmental benefit, and avoids companies that have a negative effect on society. Companies with a strong record of charitable contributions that provide a fair and diverse workplace, and/or that have a minimal impact on the environment are just a few examples of social responsibility. A major part of socially responsible investing is the exclusion of certain industries that are deemed to have a negative impact on society, including those involved in alcohol, tobacco and defence.

Six Trends in socially responsible investing to watch for in 2010.

1 Continued push towards technology.

As technology has been a pillar of the fundamentals of social investing, 2011 will not prove any different. It will be the development of technology that allows the world to achieve better sustainability, ranging in areas from energy to food scarcity. Considered to be an underlying mega-trend of socially responsible investing, the advancement of technology, and subsequently human productivity, will continue to be a strong foundation in the performance of socially responsible investment portfolios.

2 Renewable energy.

Continuing to push forward for renewable energy, socially responsible investors and companies are looking for the new technologies that will turn renewable energy into a cost-effective reality. Shell for example, will expand its investments in renewable technologies such as wind, solar and hydro power by also investing in next generation sustainable bio-fuels that will not drive up food prices or lead to deforestation. When this technology is mature, it will create a new evolutionary process of cost-effective renewable energy. Green investments in this sector will continue to grow in a quest to find better, more sustainable energy sources.

3 Changing tide for all companies.

As the movements for human rights, sustainability, and corporate governance responsibility have moved into the mainstream consumer’s radar, all corporations will eventually be impacted by shifting perspectives – and held responsible for their corporate governance sustainability practices. In addition, prompted by the growing strength and influence of social investing dollars, which account for $1 out of every $5 of managed investment funds, corporations have no choice but to respond to the changing tide. An exemplary example is Walmart, the black sheep of retail corporations, who recently released its first sustainability report – and also began offering sustainable farm produce and organic food in the stores.

4 Global warming measures.

With mainstream financial powerhouses launching “climate change funds,” global warming measures will continue to fuel the growth of socially responsible investing and green investing. With additional calls from both the scientific community and policy makers, companies are taking heed. In addition, there are significant profits to be made. According to the “Carbon Beta” research report published by Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, the corporations who capitalized upon climate change opportunities have performed better than their industry peers. This value can only continue to grow, with government policies moving towards stricter emission controls, benefiting those socially responsible stocks that are geared toward solving the environmental problem.

5 Going green.

The socially responsible investing focus on green investments has been a significantly prominent staple of the screening process of sustainability. However, in 2011, expect additional “financially green” investment vehicles introduced to the global market. With growing consumer awareness fuelled by media coverage, the report predicted an increased demand for green investing – and related green financial instruments – offered by specialised investment firms. In addition, with the launch of several regulated and non-regulated green funds, focused on environmentally friendly initiatives and sustainable companies, the trend of green investments in the financial sector will be a big mover in 2010.

6 Community investing.

Having grown five times in value since 1995, community investment efforts will continue to be a leading trend in social investing for 2011. With the private real estate market in the US either decreasing or hitting a plateau, the supply of land available for low-income housing and economic projects increases – creating additional opportunities for community investments.

Final Remarks

Don’t let the recent events on global stock markets scare you off. Green investment fundamentals are rock solid. Green Investing is at the nexus of stimulus support by governments around the World. But it’s not just governments. Corporations, too, are ramping up their Green investments. You may be familiar with some of them. Big companies like Intel… PepsiCo… Dell… and Wal-Mart are investing substantial amounts of money in solar, energy-efficient buildings, sustainable food practices and other renewable technologies.

World leaders and CEOs of multinational corporations aren’t tree-hugging liberals getting into Green Investments because they want to “make the world a better place.” They are shrewd economic realists betting big dollars that Green technology is vital to their economic survival. A few years ago, Green Investing may have been the domain of environmental idealists, but today it is one of the fastest-growing sectors on global markets. It is still early days, and the sector is still young enough to provide tremendous opportunities to the discerning investor. Green is here to stay. And it’s shaping up to be the cornerstone of the 21st century economy.

We can show investors that socially responsible agriculture investments in the emerging markets,can lead to both great profits and a better world for future generations.

Our goal is to provide consultancy to managers of unique, green investment opportunities that will maximise the profit for investors, as they at the same time work towards a healthier planet.

As investors continue their search for alternative investment assets that offer capital preservation, income and inflation hedging characteristics, and that are supported by sound long-term fundamentals such as population growth and economic expansion, many institutional investors such as Pension Funds, Hedge Funds, Sovereign Wealth Funds, Family Offices and UHNW Individuals are turning to farmland investments to generate long-term gains without dramatically altering the overall risk profile of a balanced investment portfolio.

Currently, around 1% of institutional investments assets sit in agriculture investment, and most think tanks and analysts predict that this will rise to over 5% in the next five years, creating a spike in short-term demand and adding further upward pressure to demand and therefore prices. This might be described as the beginnings of a bubble, much like many real-estate bubbles before, but the bigger picture looks different this time.

On one side of the equation we have an increasing demand for commodities such as food and biofuels as the population continues to expand at the fastest pace in history. To put this into context; up until around 1800, the global population had risen and fallen in line with our ability to produce food using the basic of agricultural techniques, yet since the introduction of hydrocarbons for energy and agriculture, the population has increased from only 800 million to over 7 billion in just over 200 years. At the time our grandparents were born there were around 1.5 billion people to feed, and by the time we were born, that number had increased to around 5 billion.

Economic expansion in developing economies also contributes as wealthier populations shift toward a more protein based diet consuming more meat. In China alone, 50,000 people move from rural areas to urbanisations, and their diets gradually shift towards meat. According to a report by the Centre for World Food Studies in Amsterdam, meat consumption in China was around 20kg per person in 1985, reaching over 50kg per person by 2000, and projected to reach 85kg per person by 2030. As 1kg of meat requires the input of around 7kg of grain, the growing pressure on global cereal supplies is immense. If everyone in the world consumed as many calories as the average American, we would need to find farmland equal to 2.2 Earth sized planets simply to keep up with demand.

One the flip side of this equation we have supply of food, and ultimately the farmland that produces our food. At every point in the 38 year commodity price cycle where real assets have undergone sharp re-pricing due to shock increases in demand at a time of limited supply, there has been opportunity to increase supply, either through the development of new farmland, or through the developments and application of new technology such as the use of fertilisers during the Green Revolution which led to a significant on-going annual increase in agricultural yields.

Currently, population growth outstrips output growth at a time where little or no new farmland is available to bring to cultivation, and yield increases from the use of fertilisers are diminishing towards zero. This unique set of circumstances dictate that there is no obvious remedy to the supply demand problem, supporting the theory that higher food prices are here to stay as little can be done to increase supply yet demand continue to grow.

Those investors choosing to agriculture investments in the form of the acquisition of quality farmland assets are likely to be best positioned to benefits from the underlying fundamental trends such as population growth and economic expansion. Investors that acquire quality farmland at today’s price are likely to enjoy inflation-linked capital growth in the long term, as well as an expanding income stream from rentals or the production and sale of food crops.

About the Author:

Download the DGC Agriculture and farmland Investment Report at the following link: http://www.dgcassetmanagement.com/agriculture-farmland-investment

Many investment professionals, including the legendary Jim Rogers, believe agriculture commodities are only in the early-to-middle innings of a major “super cycle” of increasing prices. The argument for this is fairly simple. The number of people in the world is increasing, and projected to reach nearly 9.1 billion by 2050 according to the United Nations. Meanwhile, the amount of arable farmland has been decreasing.

In addition, as with many major trends in the world today, a large reason behind the rapid run-up in food prices is China’s development. As investors we always want to be on the correct side of global macro trends, and whatever China needs or is buying lots of, we want to own as investments.

The question is what are the best ways for making money from the agricultural sector? One way is to invest directly into agriculture stocks such as farm equipment maker John Deere (DE), global seed giant Monsanto (MON) or fertilizer company Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (POT). Another method is to invest in agricultural futures through Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) such as AIGA on the London Stock Exchange or DBC in the US which tracks an entire basket of agricultural commodities including corn, soybeans, wheat, cotton, sugar, coffee, cattle and pigs. These commodities ETFs try to track the spot price of the various commodities they include.

The advantage of these stocks or ETFs is that they are easily trade-able by anyone who has an online brokerage account. The disadvantage, however, is that they are still financial instruments, and as such can fluctuate widely in price.

One option most individual investors tend to overlook is direct investment in farmland. In many ways, a farmland investment is more secure, stable and tangible then putting money into stocks. Farmland allows investors to still benefit from the global trends in agriculture we have discussed, whilst providing much greater stability then agriculture stocks or commodities which can fluctuate wildly.

Just to take one example, in the last 20 years farmland in the United States has never had a down year according to the National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries (NCREIF) in the US demonstrates. Not surprisingly, many large institutional investors have been investing heavily in farmland the last several years. For example TIAA-CREF, one of the largest pension funds in the world, has recently made a large move into farmland investing.

Prices for farmland in the West – particularly in Europe – have already moved up considerably, reaching as high £17,300 per hectare in the northwest of England to take just one example. Whilst there are considerable advantages in terms of political stability to farmland investment in Europe or the US, the real opportunities for spectacular gains lie in emerging markets, especially in Africa, which holds 60% of the world’s remaining arable land suitable for farming.

Whilst farmland investment has been dominated by larger institutions historically, in just the last two years a number of options have been developed for individuals. The most common is to pool a number of individual investors’ capital together to purchase a large parcel of land, and then divide it into individual freehold parcels. Farmland investments for individuals generally pay a regular yearly dividend from the sale of crops, and also provide the opportunity for long-term capital gains as farmland continues to increase in value.

We are now starting to see options starting as low as £1,950/hectare for high quality farmland in Africa, making it easily accessible by individuals and a great way to diversify. There are, of course, risks with any investment, but by doing one’s due-diligence and investing in the right structure with the right people and institution, farmland investment can be both safe and profitable for individual investors as well as large institutions.

Josh Cohn is a Partner in boutique investment firm GreenWorld (BVI). GreenWorld (BVI) offers green, “hard asset” investments such as farmland, timber and renewable energy directly to individuals. They are on the web at http://www.greenworldbvi.com and can be contacted at info@greenworldbvi.com.

It takes a little bit of awareness to invest and prosper. According to research conducted by experts, it is due to lack of awareness among common people that investment activity is so low. However, few people would mind a little profit, so investment is a kind of activity, which anyone with a tiny bit of desire and devotion can try his/her hand in. There are two reasons why we cannot make up our minds and go for it: lack of awareness and overloaded work schedules. To help you get through, we recommend that you consult a financial planner and a little written material on the best investments for 2011 for you to go through.

What Are the Best Investment Options for 2011

Investing in Gold
Gold investments are still the safest of all existing investment alternatives today’s market can offer. The times of gold purchased in shops and stashed in the remotest corner of your home are long gone. With electronic payment systems readily available, you can do the trick without leaving your home. You can buy gold when gold prices lower, but you can just as well profit when they go up. It should be noted that gold prices tend to grow during feasts and special events, so you can take advantage of these moments.

Investing in Commodities
These have been the best investments for 2010 and are expected to be for 2011. This market is less predictable than gold market, because metal prices depend on the situation in the world market, which is in no way stable. Therefore, if you have decided to go this way, a piece of advice from an experienced and reputable broker is a good option. Go through the best investment firms you know who you think can shed some light on the situation.

Investment in Mutual Funds
These are among the best investments for 2011, since this option appears to be a way around the risks brought on by direct stock market investments. You get a chance to invest in both highly and lowly capitalized companies, so you can even out the risk. This strategy requires patience and strategic thinking, since it is the global economy that defiles the degree of risk and the tactics. Actually, what investors get from it is reputation and portfolio.

Investing in Fixed Deposits
This is the best investments for young people who plan and save for years to come. Banks attract customers by affordable interest rate levels and fixed percentage returns, which are much less volatile than those offered by other best long term investments.

Investing in Real Estate Property
It is not unlikely that real estate investments are the best investments for 2011. All you need is a little knack for negotiation and distinguishing between different types of real estate property. One more thing you need is a little patience, because, like any other kind of long-term investment, this one does not feed back immediately. Most probably, the best thing to consider is investing in rapidly growing and evolving towns and cities.

www.investmentsguide.biz

Many a time, I see many newbie online investors empty their bank account into online investment programs they know little or nothing about its reliability and continuity and before long, they’ve burnt their fingers. Each time I witness this incident, it is something that really makes me very sad and empathic. So after witnessing and hearing of many of this victimizing incident for some time, it dawned on me to offer some help in my own little way by writing out some of the features online investors should look out for in a reliable online investment program before they start investing their money into them: in other to help ameliorate this pathetic situation.

Find Out If It Has An Offline Version

To know if an online investment program is reliable or not make out time to find out if the online investment program has an offline version. If you check and you see that there is an offline version, take a further step to find out if it is not a gambling program, if after your researches, you find out that it is not a gambling program then you know that its online version will be reliable; this is so as investment programs, online and offline are the same. Many people think the internet is a kind of Disney land where money is digitally processed- so even the riskiest of online investment programs they empty their bank account into them in other to get an overnight turnover.

The Percentage Of Interest

By the percentage of interest, I mean the percentage the investment firm promises to pay you within a given period of time. Yes the percentage is what you really have to critically scrutinize to see if it is normal and realizable and can stand the test of time. If you find out that the promised percentage is on the outrageously high side, then don’t invest in it; because if the percentage is very much on the high side, it means either it is a gamble where you are likely to loose your money within a twinkle of an eye or it is a scam program established to trap people’s money by offering outrageous percentage of interest.

The Programs Pedigree

Before you choose an online investment program to invest into, find out its pedigree. By this I mean find out how many people that are doing the business and how many percentage of them are actually making good profit from it. If after your research, you find out that its only a tiny percentage of the total people involved in it that are actually making substantial profit from the program, know that the program is not reliable and consequently you shouldn’t invest in it.

And another thing, find out how long the program has been on. If the program has stood the test of time, then the program is reliable and worth sticking out your neck on with some percentage of your money…

Darlington Ohaeri is a professional online gold trader: And also an online investment consultant. To learn more about the online gold trading business and how you can be making obscene profit from it, visit his web site http://www.putcash.com.

Some investors believed that from the period of 1982-2000 it was their “right” to earn 10% every single year in their investment portfolios without any identifiable risk. After the 2001-2003 bear market that mentality returned. People have short memories and suffered again in the period of October 2007-March 2009. Risk showed up at our doorstep and caught everyone by surprise. Warren Buffett, George Bush and many others were on that list. Everyone is concerned about risk now. The question in the era of “the new normal” is to how to invest wisely taking risk into regard.

Asset Allocation: Everyone has heard about it but who practices it? A strict model forces one to by when everyone is selling and sell when everyone is buying. Once or twice a year at the most is the time frame to review a portfolio. A change in one’s life, be it personal, emotional, or financial are valid reasons to adjust the portfolio. But it is not enough to blindly follow a rigid formula. We incorporate our macro views to identify the markets that call for the highest concentration (and likewise the lowest). The same can be said for the fixed income world, which comes in many different flavors.

An Investment Policy Statement is essential in addressing an Asset Allocation Program. That is because we will have the information to help clients allocate to strategies that address our three legged stool of successful investing, need for capital appreciation, risk tolerance level, and liquidity issues. A lack of such a policy can take a client in a direction that he/she may dispute in the future. Whether he/she should have a conservative, moderate, or aggressive portfolio, all parties concerned should be in agreement at the beginning and throughout the relationship.

Listed Options: Options can be used to increase income with a number of strategies. One such strategy is the “collar”. The motivation behind this strategy can be for one of two reasons. The first is to take a limited risk with limited upside potential on a stock that you wish to buy. The second reason is to manage a position that may be very large for your portfolio or one that carries a very low cost basis that hopefully can avoid being sold.

Let’s take a look at a sample trade. IBM currently is trading at $155.00. One can sell a February 155 call that will expire in 30 days for a price of $2.50. The downside protection is to purchase a February 150 put for $1.25. At expiration if the stock closes at 155 or above the investor will be “exercised” and out of the position at $156.25. I took the $1.25 credit that came from the two option transactions and added that number to $155. This equates to a 10% annualized return. On the downside the the “break even” point is $153.75. The risk is limited to $150.00. Ideally the risk should equal reward, but this example is just for illustrative purposes.

Due to the current bear market many investors are underfunded. Institutional and individual investors need to squeeze everything they can out of their portfolios to make up for poor performance, but must be vigilant about not taking on to much risk. Asset Allocation, an Investment Policy Statement and suitable options strategies are the cornerstone for providing the potential for a positive investment and risk management future.

Daniel B. Stern has been an active member of the Chicago Board of Trade since 1975 along with being a ’seat holder’ at the Chicago Board Options Exchange from 1988-2009. He is founder and head of Stern Investment Advisors, LLC, a financial investment firm company based in Chicago. His experience as a futures trader and options trader, (along with investing his own funds and managing money for his clients) has given him the necessary background to provide clients with the tools to succeed with their financial goals.

These EE Savings Bonds came into being in July of 1980. EE Series Bonds Value replaced Series E savings bonds, which were taken off the market. These bond values offer safe investment opportunities to people looking for low-risk investments. The government creates these bonds, and they offer a reliable, steady rate of return to investors. You can put your EE savings bonds to work by using them toward tuition fees, retirement costs, special gifts, or other circumstances.

Unlike stock and fund trading, these bonds won’t make you rich in an instant – but they won’t lose their value either. They offer some degree of security to investors, because government backs them. For many cautious investors, who watch the ups and downs of the stock market with some trepidation, EE Savings Bonds represent a slower, safer, and more reliable way of investing money. They don’t have a high rate of return, but they do accrue value over the long term.

If you’re interested in buying EE savings bonds, you should consider your own budget and your unique financial goals. If you’re interested in getting extra income fast, this type of investment may not seem like the right fit for you. However, if you’re willing to wait for gains, and don’t want to risk your hard-earned money, you will probably enjoy owning these savings bonds. To decide what’s best for you, speak with a financial investment firm, or research investment on the Internet. Drawing up a budget and figuring out how much money you have to spend of these bonds is they key to investing wisely.

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Land investment is a popular choice amongst people looking for higher returns. Would you like to see a higher return on your investment? Well then you should consider buying UK land.

The problem with regular investment opportunities such as bonds and ISA’s are that they return very minimal dividends because of low or stagnant interest rates. Coupled with this trend is a volatile stock and housing market. This means that it is becoming very risky to invest in stocks or real estate as the markets may crash. If the markets do pick up, growth is minimal and any significant ROI could take a while.

For these reasons, people are looking to diversify their investment portfolios. What ways are investors diversifying? Investors are turning to UK land investment groups for those higher dividends we all seek. One frequently asked question when it comes to land investment is whether or not it is actually a good investment?

Well, let’s provide a bit of perspective. Land investment, especially in the UK is proving to be quite lucrative. If you take the interest rates for bonds and ISA’s, in the current market you’ll be looking at an average of around 2% with a maximum of around 3% – 4% return. Now, according to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ Rural Land Market Survey, the value of agricultural land in the UK over the last 20 years has increased by 130%. That’s an average increase of 6.5% a year. These figures look even better when you consider that the average UK land value has increased by over 30% in just the last year.

So why is UK land so lucrative to an investor? Well, let’s provide a bit of context. According to the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors’ 2010 Rural Land Market Survey, supply for agricultural land is falling whilst the demand continues to increase. This means that the price of land is beginning to rise as supply is being outweighed by demand.

Added to this trend is the housing situation in the UK; we are seeing a huge demand for housing as the population rises. Now, with such scarce land to build houses on, the government are flagging certain sites to be ‘rezoned’ for housing development. If you have land that was previously undeveloped, which is then rezoned for development, the strategic theory is an increase in land value. Land investment firms research and analyse the market for any potential rezoning and then look to invest money in these key sites.

Like with any diverse investment opportunity, you need to know that values can go up and down, so there is a certain degree of risk attached to it. Land investment is not regulated by the Financial Services Authority and you can’t guarantee that the land you invest in will be granted planning permission.

On the whole, if you are looking for an investment that has the potential for significant growth then you should consider buying UK land, it’s a consistent and sensible choice in the current financial market.

Daniel Martin is a freelance writer who writes for a number of UK businesses. For advice on Buying Land, he recommends Vinci Partners.