house prices rise 30 to 40 next 5 years, page-13

Gee talk about going of on tangents

First off there is a very large difference between companies being the biggest in market cap and the best, assuming the criteria you are putting on judging what is best is the companies investment potential.

Yes if a company over time becomes a poor investment it is most likely going to drop in market cap size, but there are countless number of mid caps out there that are great investment potential that due to their size will never become part of the ASX 50.

And yes there are 3 main classes of investments cash, property and shares.

and depending on an individuals risk profile and funds available they should invest to varying degrees at various times across all classes.

But just as this is a basic principle of investing so is the greater the risk the greater the return.

Cash, fixed interest deposits, bonds are very low risk and at times even classed as risk free, but no one has ever made a fortune from investing solely in cash.

Real estate in general has a higher risk element but also over time will offer higher reward than cash.

Shares based on historical returns are going to give a higher return again but a higher risk.

Based on measurable indicators over time, interest yields, growth in property market values, rental yields, share market index movements, dividend yields this is how each class of investment will perform.

Yes there are always exception to the rule Franks Lowry's property investments over the years have probably outperformed the share market as a rule. But the Buffett has also out performed gains made by most share market and property investors.

Just as there will always be the individual investments in real estate and property that will perform better than the general overall market. But if you are going to look at the gains made on these investments over what the market does as a whole share investments will still show to have produced better results albeit at a higher risk.

I have seen a number of people make exceptional returns on real estate when everyone else was struggling to break even.

But the money they have made is nothing compared to the percentage gains I have seen some individuals make on the share market that were well in excess of what the general market was doing.