In this final installment (for now), I'm looking at investing for the longer term when you have limited resources. One thing I hope that's become apparent from all of this is that accumulating Gaian wealth isn't a linear process: you don't do Step 1, then Step 2, then Step 3, then blammo, you're wealthy (for some value of wealthy). While you're working on Step 1 you also do some Step 2, and when you're doing mostly Step 3 you're still filling in with Step 1. You're never really done with any step, you just change your time and energy balance between them as circumstances change.

Most investment items are available only for a limited time. And in any given timeframe, there are usually quite a few different investment opportunities available - but with limited resources, you can't take advantage of all of them without leaving yourself without the gold to keep vending. Again, when you have limited resources, vending will raise your net worth faster than most investments, so you do not want to hobble yourself by being too item rich and gold poor.

But you also don't want to sacrifice what you believe will be good future profits by turning down what looks to be a good investment opportunity today. Which comes back to priorities and balance.

As I mentioned in part 1, part of the gold vs. items balance I've used on my mule, especially when she didn't have much gold, was to earn back twice what I spent on any investment before I bought anything else. Yes, it means I ended up vending some items that under other circumstances I would have liked to have kept for potentially more profit later.

I also had to pick and choose what I invested in. This is where my experience has played a part - I knew what items I was going after and what kind of buy price I was looking for. When I hoard an item, I'm very sensitive to buy price because if I need to unload them in a hurry because I need the gold for something else, it reduces the chances I'll have to do so at a loss.

I had to scale back on the size of the investments. In other circumstances I would have liked to have bought at least 10 of a certain item, but I just could not tie up that much of my working capital in a long term investment. I had to be satisfied with 2 or 3. But you know, a hoard of 2 or 3 is far better than a hoard of none.

And yes, I had to pass up some items that should be pretty darned decent investments, like the Super Prize 2010. I expect they'll do well, but given the resources I had available and my other goals and their buy price, there wasn't a way to work them in without sacrificing something else I wanted more. It sucked, but I had to make a choice. You might have chosen differently.

Besides, it's not like there aren't new investment opportunties popping up on Gaia pretty much nonstop. Passing up an opportunity today isn't the end - it just means you look forward to and take advantage of a different one later.

Another thought about investment opportunities: never say never. Second and third chances do indeed come along if you look out for them and have the working capital available to pounce when they do. I've picked up items at prices I thought were long gone when I least expected it.

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A couple random, final thoughts:

- It's true: it takes money to make money. The more you have, the easier it is to earn more. But you have to start somewhere.

- I haven't mentioned anything about the Exchange because I don't use it. It's not fun to me, and that's one of my priorities on Gaia. There are others who enjoy it a great deal, and they've written stuff on it in this very guild, so if you're interested, I suggest you check it out.

- Experience makes a huge difference, and the experience isn't in the account, it's in the person behind the keyboard. The only way to get experience is to get out there and try it yourself.

- I don't know if all of these postings are worth anything to anyone else, since a lot of it has been personal and anecdotal. It's given me a new perspective on how to give advice to those just starting out, because the process of growing your wealth is a lot different when you have limited resources vs. when you have lots and the experience to go with them.