Quora Answer: What are Some of the Most Stable Long-Term Investments Outside of the Stock Market?

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “What are some of the most stable long-term investments outside of the stock market?”

As asset classes go, outside of the market, there is gold and property.  These are the traditional safe investments for an extended period, but only if you know how to manage them, and when it comes to property, if you know how to pick them.  Outside of this, if you really want a stable investment that will increase in value, and if you have the financial muscle, then it has to be scarce resources and businesses that are recession proof.

An example of a business that is recession proof, would be funeral services.  Whether the economy is good, or bad, there will always be people dying.  And when there is a bereavement, as long as the prices are reasonable, nobody bargains.

Another example would be pharmaceuticals and clinics.  Whether the economy is good or bad, people still fall sick.  This may be cynical, but there is more money in treatment and illness management than looking for cures.

Another example for developed countries would be nursing homes. The skewed demographics of low TFI mean that there will be a generation unable to take care of their elderly because there are not enough of them.  Governments will need to give subsidies and tax breaks to encourage nursing homes.  You can squeeze blood from stone, and they have to pay.

As for the people in the nursing homes, they are elderly people, not necessarily invalids.  They have needs, and they have the means to pay for them, from golf junkets to sexual entertainment, to expensive hobbies.

Another example would be cornering water resources, including water purification and desalination.  Because of climate change, water will be worth more than gold in some places.  It is a strategic resource that people take for granted.

Another example would be food security.  Buy farms, plantations and food processing plants.  But negotiate to sell to governments as a means to control the costs of specific commodities.  Food security is the next big business.