One of the investment 'experts' on this blog invests longterm in tree farming. One cycle takes 20 years. I think he is still on his first cyle hoping to make a killing at 50. 
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hehehe. The problem with most pipo is they think they understand high finance but they really don't. I invested big in JDS Uniphase as a B-school grad student before the dot com bust and made serious killings mpaka I thought I was a stock market genius, despite the fact that the P/E ratios on all those equities were insane. I then went global and was doing put options (selling short) on Russian bonds, the Turkish Lira and all that claptrap. Basically everything I thought would tank. And made another heavy kill there. This did not bode well for my growing ego. I did well too on oil. And on Swiss Francs. Then I went into metals but it didn't take me long to realize that derivatives on metals are a scam. It's all fixed. Yaani manipulated. Yaani rigged.
The big players would frequently "flush out" all the stops on held positions on BOTH the long and short ends to massacre the lemmings, who've read hopeless books like Buifett's Intelligent Investor, who think they're smart but don't know how the REAL WORLD works. It's funny how grad schools tout theories like the Efficient Market Hypothesis yet even a rube can see a market can't be free and efficient when the Fed intervenes on rates, USGay subsidizes its farmers and sets its exchange rates through open market operations just like all Central Banks do. And slaps tariffs on as recently experienced. Yet thinking people use such theories to throw good money away.
Isgoodcomedy
The only thing I am still happy to spec on is going long on the Chinese Yuan which anyone with a brain can see is going nothing but up in the next 50 years. Even then I don't own it in derivatives but in cool clean crisp notes and I've done extremely well so far (since 2009) and foresee more of the same.
Speaking of Buffet, it's funny how no less than MIT and HARVARD grads and even CFAs still think the hopeless formulae on his so-called Bible on Investments (said book) actually works when it comes to Securities Analysis yet none of it ever does. HE HIMSELF has said he would rather buy a brand with long term traction that doesn't meet his (nonsensical) formulae which when applied would lead you to worthless penny stocks with monster margins of safety (his words) but with zero long term value. SO which is it? "Intelligent investing" as prescribed in his book (which he has made millions off of) or investing in Coca Cola which would NOT meet the formulae he prescribes to others?
Isasadthing
This is the type of brainwashing that is going on at the grad schools. Turning students into non-thinking zombies who will take their hard earned dollars into Speculation-ville which is a surefire losers game. This is why Gates and Blackrock are busy buying LAND all over the US while the lemmings - all of them most certainly employees - invest in his stock 
But back to metals. So I learned pretty quickly that when it comes to metals; gold and silver especially, if you don't have physical possession of it (whether lockbox or whatever other way) then you don't own it. The 2007/2008 subprime/derivatives crisis where Goldman colluded even with THE RATING AGENCIES to screw the lemmings should have taught folks that but they never learn! It's actually insanity to think one can navigate the strongholds of the wolves of Wall Street as a retail investor long term But I digress.
When I retired in 2003 permanently I had a lot of time on my hands to do so many unrelated things and explore places and nations that really opened my eyes to so many things including why A students work for C students and B students work for the government (Kiyosaki is spot on regarding this.) This is why even D students like Kirubi, Karume, Kirima and so on were billionaires while Centum's Mworia with his gleaming CFA is a small time employee thinking he is doing big things. I realized pretty quick that true wealth is in natural resources THAT YOU OWN PERSONALLY and not in derivative (owned by others) investments you have zero control over.
As Ray Croc once famously asked a Columbia MBA class, "What do you think my business is?" They responded; "Of course it's to sell burgers and shakes and fries and son on," and he laughed and respnded; "no, my business is to buy PRIME LAND in very prime intersections in capital cities all across the world. And rent it out to my franchisees."
As always some will gerrit and it will go over the heads of most!
Think of it this way. If I buy 100 acres in the wilds of Samburu, fence it and plant trees on it for 30 years. Zero carrying costs once established.
While someone invests that money not in land but in Nvidia or Tesla or whatever. In 30 years who will be better off? Tesla and Nvidia might be long gone like JDS Uniphase and Worldcon (Worldcom)! But the land and the trees will still be there and worth tens of millions of dollars. Meanwhile I have 30 years to invest in other things, in my family, my hobbies etc that come with my time-freedom - the ability to spend every single day doing whatsoever one wants - which is something VERY FEW human beings on this planet have. While the wage slaves have no option to go to the drudgery of a 9-5 at the salt-mines each morning.
BTW I learnt in the 90's that the wage slaves are actually very necessary so it is actually VERY NECESSARY TO KEEP THEM IN THE DARK. How else will the global economic system work if the wage slaves - the first to be taxed, the most heavily taxed, and the most time-unfree - get religion and come to the resource-ownership (beyond a house in the burbs, some stocks etc) end. The world would collapse! This is why the Wall Street Journal and Forbes will always tout the spec end of things to them where they have zero control and will remain dependent on others.
Bottom line everyone has their place.
Back to my morning Arabica in the garden on this beautiful sunny day I go!
Ni hayo tu
Too long, Insha, with great nuggets. "Bottom line everyone has their place." is a powerful statement. On my line of space based on a few years of experience, I would want everyone to suffer 2-4 years of excruciating training/experience in navigating US stock market because I believe it is the only line of fun (not work) that gives anyone true freedom and financial independence without annoying bosses, meetings, cubicles, remote work, milestones, lifting, customer service, driving, employees, and all the bullshit that comes with being a business owner, farmer, politician, employee, employer, contractor, etc. In my line of fun, you get to wake up whenever you feel like it, make as much money as you want, and have fun anywhere, whether on a plane, in a hotel, in Zambia, or in a bathroom, driving, or visiting people. In fact, for most successful traders/investors, they hate weekends because the stock market is closed. When market close at 8PM on Friday, getting to Monday at 4AM when Market open for me is like eternity! It is the worst thing in the world! Everybody's life and how they see things are quite different. For me, I cannot fathom being employed, owning a business, or simply dealing with humans who are not my family. I like High speed internet, constant tea, and a room with lethal computers to monitor the US stock market and take advantage of the opportunities, which come every 20-50 minutes from 4AM-8PM East Coast time daily!
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