Posts Tagged ‘investments’

Why it makes sense to invest in gas and service stations now

October 26th, 2009

There are three primary reasons why gas stations are a great investment today. 

First, in light of the challenging real estate environment, prices for the real estate are at some of the lowest levels in recent history.  Also, interest rates are low, and lenders are looking for strong cash flow business models. Gas stations in particular generate significant cash flow which can help finance the purchase.  In addition, with most municipalities cutting back on the approval of new stations, the land value of a limited number of locations increases. 

Second,  the retail side of the gas station business is another great revenue generator, especially for items like great coffee and homemade baked goods.  It’s important to make sure that you carry and offer something unique to your station only. 

aepgasstation

Thirdly, both the state and federal governments are funding and financing the conversion of conventional fueling stations to alternative fuels. Seriously, what could be better than being paid to improve the environment and increase the value of your investment  by utilizing someone elses funding mechanism to do so? 

In the next blog I will go into each one of these in greater detail and watch for the pitfalls in running a stations in future posting.

  • Share/Bookmark

Top three ways to invest in alternative energy

October 9th, 2009

When investing in alternative energy, there are primarily three different ways to go about it. 

The first and easiest way is to do your homework in the stock/equity world of publicly traded entities.  Having invested myself in some of the largest public companies, and experiencing the wild fluctuations in today’s stock market, this approach certainly is not for the faint of heart.  As an example, the largest solar power company, first solar (FSLR), has moved over a hundred percent several times in the last couple of years, and others like sunpower (SPWR) have experienced the same.  If interested, be careful as there will be winners and losers in this market. Big risks and big rewards come together. For a list of these email us.

The second way to invest is to look at locally owned privately held companies.  As many of these are cash strapped startups, most of them will welcome your financial investment.  Of course the challenge here is to find a management team that you feel comfortable with and are willing to establish a long term relationship with in order to realize substantial return on your investment money.  

The third option is to look at your passion and interests in the field and pursue them as a company yourself and partner with others that share the same approach to the field and philosophies.  The greatest benefit to this is that you control your own destiny.  If you fire yourself you will more than likely know about it, hence you will have increased job security. 

All of the above involve tradeoffs between risk and reward.  View each approach carefully.  As always make sure that you are entering the investment for the right reason.  Rarely is it to make a bunch of money and more often than not the best investment is the one that you enter into to make a positive impact on the greater good, and thus you will also be part of the growth in your investment. 

Good luck and have fun!

  • Share/Bookmark