Almost everything I ever learned about investing turns out to be wrong. I learned that buying and holding a diversified portfolio of stocks was a sure winning strategy in the long run. So far, my lifetime stock investments are negative. I learned that the safest investment is real estate, especially in California, because “they aren’t making any more land.” That theory hasn’t worked out too well.

I learned that investing in California municipal bonds was extra safe because they were insured. That’s great until the insurance companies themselves become insolvent. 

So if everything that was good is now bad, is there any investment that we all assumed to be bad that is now good? (Other than stuffing cash under the mattress. Too obvious.)