Are Today's Investments Tomorrow's Profits, Or Just Another Drain on Our Pockets?

In today's times of economic uncertainty it's hard to believe that anything we do right now is going to accomplish anything more than basic survival. Most of us are paring back on our investments at the moment in an effort to have more cash in our pockets on a day to day basis and enough to provide us with a financial cushion if we find ourselves stuck in the unemployment line.

And yet it seems like every time we turn around there's someone else there urging us to sink our hard earned (and much hoarded) cash into yet another investment scheme. Whether it's an IRA, a 401K, real estate or your stock portfolio, the potential gain that may or may not come from investing in investments that may or may not survive the recession intact doesn't seem nearly as important as putting an extra 10% of your income into your savings account.

That 10% is important, make no mistake about it, but money was never meant to just sit and stagnate. Money was born to grow and replicate, and today's economic recession can't last forever. Despite the negative (and rather frantic) press it's been receiving, this recession is actually very much a part of the natural order of things in the business world. What goes up must come down, and then go up again. Today's investments are going to be tomorrow's goldmines, so even though it may pain you to part with that extra cash right now it's going to pay off in profits down the road.

Sometimes you have to take a chance on short term loss to enjoy a long term gain, which is one of the first things every businessman and woman should learn before stepping out into the bullpen. Don't be afraid to invest in today's market. As long as your portfolio can stand a few ups and downs the long term gains are going to more than make up for the short term loss.