whats the best long term investment?

There is no perfect answer to that. How you invest depends a lot on your circumstances, your age, your tolerance for risk, etc. The best investment is to learn how to live on less than you make, and understand that the % of your money you save is really much more important in the long run than what you put it into.

But to answer your question more directly....Nowdays i think a nice simple porfolio of just a few index type ETFs (exchange traded funds, like mutual funds but more flexible) with low expense costs are a good way to start learning. Go to www.fool.com, lots of basic investing stuff.

Simply put, diversification. I know that's a pretty canned answer but it really is the best choice as there are so many unpredictable variables in every sector, especially in this economy.

I know mrbarrakodrama above me recommended precious metals but do realize that gold and silver are in a slump right now following a bubble that just popped. I'd stay away from it for quite a while as it's outlook isn't looking good especially considering the fact that prices will only go lower as the economy (slowly) recovers.

Either the Indvidual stocks, or the Large-Cap Mutual Funds that own them...of Growth and Income Funds that have the Best Long term records..

The Top Twenty for all time(20 years)..Funds in the past like (excluding gold funds)...Mutual Shares..Twentieth Century Ultra..Contra fund..Windsor Fund..Fidelity capital Appreciation...Oakmark Fund..Yacktman, and Yacktman Focus....Found in Investment Letters like moneyletter.com,..or mutual fund almanacs.

"Impossible to beat the S+P500"........Hogwash

Interesting question. During the past 100 years or so equities have in total been a better investment than bonds. Very recently that has not been the case at all. Bonds have been better than equities. There have been studies conducted by the scholastic types that seem to indicate that a mix of the two might be a better long term investment. The concept has to do with variance in return. Equities sometimes yield extreme negative returns.-30% is not unheard of. People get very nervous when their returns approach - 30% and they tend to bail out at the worst possible moment.

As for mutual funds, for a person with limited capital to invest they do offer a method of investment that limits specific risk. That is the risk that what you have invested your money in goes completely south on you. Sort of like having invested all of your money in GM 10 years ago and watching it all evaporate into nothing. Most mutual funds invest in at least 30 different investment, many in many more than that thus mitigating the specific risk. There are in fact mutual funds that invest in both equities and bonds. Some mutual funds have performed well and other not so well at all. It is my opinion that currently bonds as a long term investment might prove extremely disappointing. Interest rates have been driven down to give away levels by the FED to bail out all the dead beat borrowers and screw the lenders.

My personal preference is to invest in equities that pay dividends of at least 3% and have a history of raising their dividends annually. Last year there were a good number of these available, but they seem to have caught on with investors and currently there are fewer available. One such company that currently meets this criteria is Pepsi--PEP. Pays 3.1% and has raised its dividend every year for the last 38 years. Not too bad a record. If you had bought the stock 15 years ago, your total annual return would have been 7.7%, not too bad. My data does not go back 20 year unfortunately. That return beats about 75% of the mutual funds during that period of time I think. ABT is another. In fact its return over 15 years is almost exactly identical to PEP but it currently pays a higher dividend--3.4%.

s&p 500 index fund. don't let the boring stodgy image fool you, it's next to impossible to beat.

I agree that there is no "perfect" answer.

However, our time in history tells us there are some great opportunities to watch for and some pitfalls to avoid.

I would stay far away from gold & silver at these prices. They are at historic highs and history tells us that prices fall much faster than they had risen and they have risen sharply, of late.

Real Estate has come back down out of the ether and quite frankly, they aren't making more of it. There's only so much to go around. There are some great opportunities in Real Estate. As the saying goes, "The best place to invest on Earth, is still Earth!"

Also, we are in a time where Entrepreneurism hasn't been this important for nearly 200 years! The venture space is a great opportunity and the trick is to diversify. Instead of trying to find the next Google and putting all your money there, you will want to spread it over 10-12 ventures. After all, that's what the successful funds do, and it's tough to argue with success.

Entrepreneurism is the only thing that will make this country great again and we NEED it to produce jobs.

Check http://www.aimhighprofits.com/category/learn-the-b...

If possible, control your investment decisions on your own as mutual fund managers are there to earn money from you and can swap out holdings up until the date when statements are due which is what they tend to do.

Also, with SOPA on the horizon and other internet censorships looming we must take action together. If you have a TD Ameritrade account as brokerage you should close it immediately because you will most likely not be able to buy penny stocks if you were planning to. Instead sign up for a brokerage account with one of the leading companies such as Etrade Schwab.com Scottrade.com all 3 of them will allow you to trade freely, and their fees are extremely low as well!

We are supporters of the official boycott of TD Ameritrade which will last until they stop "censorship" of stock trading.

gold and precious metals are generally great to go long on since they decline over time. if your 16 then def go with gold and silver.