i read the friday fry's ad every week, looking for deals on tech gear. i made a short list of the things id like to buy:

sony-ericsson s710a $500 palmone zire 72 $250 bluetooth GPS $250 gumstix $180 playstation portable $250

you know whats wrong with this list? all those are depreciating assets. where is the longing for a higher certificate of deposit rate?

okay so lets start with the basics. how can the same $500 make money instead of loosing it? Lets think about 6 months to one year in time.

first tech credit union savings account 0.3%/year fixed, yup thats zero-point-three percent. first tech CD (over $500) for 6 months is 2%/year fixed.

okay so thats really good to have a baseline. 2%/year fixedwe can absolutely do. today. we can make interest instead of paying interest.

other options - nasdaq top-100 tracking stock QQQQ has lost 6% this year.

US Government savings bonds "Treasury's inflation-indexed I Bonds are designed to offer all Americans a way to save that protects the purchasing power of their investment by assuring them a real rate of return above inflation. I Bonds have features that make them attractive to many investors. They are sold at face value in denominations of $50, $75, $100, $200, $500, $1,000, $5,000, and $10,000 and earn interest for as long as 30 years. I Bond earnings are added every month and interest is compounded semiannually. They are State and local income tax exempt, and Federal income tax on I Bond earnings can be deferred until the bonds are cashed or they stop earning interest after 30 years. Investors cashing I Bonds before five years are subject to a 3-month earnings penalty." I bonds: 3.67% variable. interesting idea, but 5 years is too long term for this discussion.

EE bonds: 3.25% variable, can sell after 1 year but 3 months interest penalty before 5 years.

After that, the complexity goes way way up.

how about buying a house for investment purposes? i think you loose much of the tax benefits if its not the house you're living in, but maybe you'll live in it.

what if you 'architect' some crazy deal? like sign a contract with sunshine dairy for 200 eggs a week for 6 weeks and sign another contract with a 4-restaurant chain to provide eggs? good: selling the eggs at 25% more than purchase price. bad: being responible for any delivery slip-ups or quality problems and possibly a lot of customer service work with each contract-ee for the duration of the contract.

oh gold. my friend dave is crazy about gold. gold is $437/troy oz. light crude is $56. corn is $222.