[Choose Ye This Day]

Amen! Thank you for your wisdom.

Yes, if your house goes down in value, you still own something of value. However, if a toxic dump opens business down the street, you're outta luck.

I'd like someone to tell me how if I own stock in Coca-Cola, in Home Depot, in Bank of America, or in Harley Davidson, then I own nothing of value. I own a piece of some of the best-run businesses in America. And one of the nice things is, I don't have to mow Coca-Cola's lawn, and I don't have to put a new roof on the Home Depot every 20 years.

Now, I can understand how someone would say that owning stock in one of the dot.com penumbra companies would be holding a worthless piece of paper. But those were companies with no earnings, no assets, and no idea how to run a business. People who bought into that fantasy were seriously deluded. They should have bought tulip bulbs instead--at least their garden would look pretty.

[ExitPurgamentum]

I'd like someone to tell me how if I own stock in Coca-Cola, in Home Depot, in Bank of America, or in Harley Davidson, then I own nothing of value. I own a piece of some of the best-run businesses in America.

And it is a far better investment than real estate.

Strangely, most people do not know today that ownership of real estate has never been "The American Dream:" that myth was created by then newly formed REALTORs Association (REALTOR is a made-up word theretofore nonexistent).

Ownership of one's home is about consumption, not investment.

[HitmanLV]

I'd like someone to tell me how if I own stock in Coca-Cola, in Home Depot, in Bank of America, or in Harley Davidson, then I own nothing of value. I own a piece of some of the best-run businesses in America

Just steer clear of Pitney Bowes and you will be fine! :)

[irishjuggler]

I'd like someone to tell me how if I own stock in Coca-Cola, in Home Depot, in Bank of America, or in Harley Davidson, then I own nothing of value. I own a piece of some of the best-run businesses in America. And one of the nice things is, I don't have to mow Coca-Cola's lawn, and I don't have to put a new roof on the Home Depot every 20 years.

I agree with you 100%. Over the long run, blue-chip stocks are a great investment and historically beat real estate in terms of capital appreciation. Yes, a home is an asset that you can live in, but it's also a liability in a way that stocks aren't. Shareholders don't have to pay property tax, insurance, maintenance, etc.