Alternative investments
Even though the stock market is doing poorly right now, and even though most people had their portfolios destroyed recently, there remains a small group of investors who have done well, or at least not lost much money, in recent times. These are the people who used alternative investments. For example, many people are taking the current horribly low property prices as an opportunity akin to a two-for-one sale, rather than a horrible hit to their portfolios. Many people are snapping up these properties, trying to collect as much money as possible when the property prices finally increase. Art, wine, and precious metals also are fairly steady right now. There are even many funds for this sort of thing, that invest in precious art over a long term period in order to collect a gain when this artwork can be sold to museums. Art has always been considered an excellent way to diversity a portfolio as a hedge against a falling stock market. For example, Canadian art has increased fifteen percent a year for the last several years, even during the recession, and gold has increased even better, doubling in the last two years. Alternative investments can be excellent, even if they go against the mainstream.