Examples of Hard Asset Investments and Reasons to Include Them

A hard asset is anything that a person owns that is tangible. It can be a physical asset such as a building or inventory, gold, land or even a shipping container. Hard assets can be considered very valuable because they can often be used to purchase, trade for or produce other services or goods.

There are many different types of tangible investments, with varying values, that investors can consider adding; to their portfolio of traditional investments. For example, buildings, certain types of machinery and shipping containers, are included in the category of hard assets. The value of any given hard asset, depends mainly on certain physical properties. Sometimes the value can depend greatly on whether the hard asset has been reproduced, or if it can be reproduced. This is especially true for gemstone investors, investing in precious gemstones.

Some common examples of hard investments include agriculture, precious metals, base metals, water, forest products and both renewable and non-renewable energy. Depending on the economy, some of the choices of hard investments can be good, and some can be bad. Currently, there is a rising global demand for hard assets such as precious gemstones and metals, energy, food, shipping containers and even luxury goods. Because there is such a consistently high international need for these items, considering the introduction of alternative assets like shipping container investments, can be the best and safest decision; a confused investors can make.