James Turk has a reputation for making outlandish predictions. He was practically alone in his calls for gold to hit record highs during the traditionally slow summer months last year, but the yellow metal did just that.

Of course, Turk’s not entirely an impartial observer. He’s the founder of GoldMoney, a company that gives consumers a way to buy goods and services in gold rather than cash (online at GoldMoney.com).

He has a vested interest in driving consumers toward precious metals. But, it’s always admirable when someone lays out public predictions – particularly when they name specific price points and time frames. Turk did just that two weeks ago when he said he expects silver to double over the course of two to three months to $70 an ounce.

That monstrous climb won’t start until silver can break out above $35 an ounce, Turk believes. And the metal has gotten very close to that $35 mark recently. It closed above $34.50 for the first time since October 2011 last Wednesday.

Could the pendulum be swinging from gold to silver? Citigroup analysts seems to think so. A few days ago I detailed their predictions that the gold-silver ratio is about to undergo a shift in my post Silver ready to outperform gold.

“There is a bubble today, but it is not gold,” Turk wrote last week on GoldMoney. “It is the debt instruments of the US government and indeed, other governments that have also made far too many financial promises. Many of these promises will be broken and many debts repudiated, but most people do not understand or refuse to accept this reality. Ignoring prudent financial analysis and even the lessons of history, they still believe government debt is a safe haven.”

Once investors wake up to the realities of our country’s debt situation, perhaps they will pile into metals. Whether or not they push silver up 100 percent in two months is yet to be seen, but we have to admit the market’s done well of late. It climbed 15 percent in January. Let’s keep an eye on that $35 an ounce mark and hold Turk to his word.

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The crown jewel of the Empire State Realty Trust’s portfolio is quite possibly the most famous building in America: the Empire State Building. Investors will soon get a chance to own a piece of the building following the IPO in the coming months. Here are five reasons to consider buying stock in the Empire State Realty Trust (Ticker: ESB):

1) The Empire State Building. Obviously, the Empire State Building serves as more than just office space; it’s a tourist mecca that draws more than 3 million visitors a year. Those visits aren’t free, either. “The average ticket revenue per admission for each of the 11 years from 2000 through 2010 increased at a compound annual growth rate of 9.9% and the growth rate during each of those years, on a year-over-year basis, has never been negative,” ESB writes in their S-1 filing. Today, the average visitor shells out $18.61 to journey to the top of the Empire State Building. Those tourists alone generated $156.7 million in revenue for the nine months ended Sept. 30.

2) Dividends. Because the Empire State Realty Trust is a REIT, the company will be required to distribute at least 90 percent of its taxable income in the form of dividends. That means investors will get a nice payout every three months (although be aware that these payouts will be subject to higher taxes than normal dividends).

3) More than one office. All told, ESB operates 12 office buildings with a total of 7.7 million rentable square feet of office space. The bulk of that property is located in the heart of Manhattan, and 79.9% of the company’s office space is currently leased.

4) Metro Tower. ESB owns land in Stamford, Conn., that they plan to turn into a 340,000-square-foot office building and garage dubbed Metro Tower. The swanky corporate space will be part of a planned mixed-use “Metro Green.” When the Green’s complete, the 17-story Metro Tower will be surrounded by three residential buildings. That should help draw commercial tenants to Metro Tower. And if it doesn’t, the amenities at Metro Tower should. “In-building services and amenities will likely include on-site building management; concierge; 24/7 security; multi-media conference center; fitness center; dining facility; sundry shop; and access to landscaped rooftop gardens and its garage,” ESB writes.

5) Green leaders. A big driver behind ESB’s upcoming IPO is the need to raise capital for further improvements to the Empire State Building. Many of these changes are designed not just to drive up rents and rentable space, but also to improve energy efficiency at the building. That should lead to stronger profits for ESB and longer-duration tenants.

Photo by linder6580.

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Citigroup analysts sent a note to their clients last week arguing that silver looks undervalued compared to its pricier yellow cousin, gold.

Their reasoning? The gold-silver ratio is tilted too far toward gold. “The 200-day (gold/silver ratio) moving average is at 47.64, which we suspect will be tested,” analysts wrote. As it stands right now, the gold-silver ratio is hovering around 51.

During the height of the precious metals bull market 30 years ago, the gold-silver ratio fell as low as 16. Think of it like a pendulum that’s set to swing back toward silver. Per Citigroup, if silver can manage to close out a week above $36.55 an ounce, the metal could quickly spike higher toward $45.30 an ounce (a jump of 35 percent from current levels).

Retail investors are showing they like silver coins despite higher prices. Sales of American silver eagles were up to 615,000 this week (above the prior week’s 505,000). For the entire year, the Mint’s sold more than 6.8 million silver eagles.

The big question for precious metals prices going forward is how the story in Greece will play out. Draconian austerity measures could save the Eurozone from debt contagion. Or it could lead to social unrest that just might topple the current regime there. “Austerity measures are like shoes that are too tight,” an opposition leader said recently. “Sooner or later, you want to kick them off.”

Investors seem split on whether or not saving Greece from default is bullish or bearish for metals. Newsletter writer and economist Dennis Gartman is staying in gold as long the turmoil in Greece doesn’t undermine investors’ views of the metal as an alternative store of value (per Barrons).

If investors start growing confident that the worst of the Eurozone’s problems are behind them, though, that could push traders out of safe haven metals and into riskier assets like stocks. Should that happen, look for gold and silver mining stocks to possibly outperform the metals themselves.

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Early in December 2011, copper prices started rising, and they’ve shown little sign of slowing that climb since the start of the year. Over the past two months copper prices have risen 11 percent from 3.40 a pound to more than 3.80 a pound.

Since copper is so integral to the expansion the global economy, economic growth means higher copper prices. The numbers are skewed toward China, though. Last year, the PRC alone accounted for 40 percent of global refined copper demand. We can get an idea of just how much growth analysts expect to see in China and around the world in 2012 by taking a look at their copper price predictions for the year. Here are five of them:

1) Average of $3.85 a pound. Cochilco, the Chilean government’s copper commission, raised their copper forecasts last week from $3.50 a pound to a 2012 average of $3.85 a pound. Cochilco cited increased demand out of China as the driver for the move.

2) Up to $9,000/mt. Standard Bank is predicting global copper consumption will rise at a relatively mild 1.2 percent in 2012. That means “demand for copper is unlikely to be strong enough to support prices above $9,000/mt for most of the year.” That’s roughly $4.08 per pound. “We think copper will average $7,700 with good support when we go below $7,000,” Walter de Wet, head of commodities at Standard Bank, told ResourceInvestor.

3) Copper north of $9,000 a tonne. In contrast to predictions from Standard Bank, Barclays Capital analysts predict copper prices will trade “consistently above $9,000 a tonne by the second half of the year” (per ResourceInvestor).

4) $7,350/ton. Early in January 2012, Deutsche Bank AG reduced their 2012 forecast for copper by 18.8% to $7,350/ton. “We expect that near-term deflationary fears from the worsening economic picture in Europe and intensifying hard landing fears in China may continue to depress pricing for the base metals complex,” the bank said at the time.

5) $10,000-a-ton. Strong copper price performance at the start of 2012 had some investors speculating that the red metal could hit $10,000 a ton by the end of the year. “Six months from now the market may be genuinely tight, but it is definitely not genuinely tight today and so I would treat calls of $10,000 a ton with a pinch of salt,” BNP Paribas strategist Stephen Briggs told the Wall Street Journal.

Photo by cobrasoft.

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Triple-net lease REITs work like this: a company buys an office building then leases it back to the seller for a long term (typically 10 to 20 years). This is beneficial to both the buyer (the REIT) and the seller (the tenant).

How? The seller no longer has a mortgage to deal with, and they get a tax deduction for paying rent. The REIT gets a steady stream of income in the form of rent checks.

The REIT also benefits because the seller has to keep paying property taxes, insurance and maintenance costs (per the lease agreement). That’s where the name “triple-net” comes from. It’s generally regarded as a safer type of REIT than those that deal in mortgage derivatives and riskier mortgage securities.

A handful of REITs specializes in this form of triple-net leasing. Here are five with outstanding yields:

1) Caplease (LSE), 6.23% yield. A small-cap REIT focused on retail and office space.

2) Lexington Realty Trust (LXP), 5.61% yield. Another small-cap REIT focused on retail and office space.

3) LTC Properties (LTC), 5.32% yield. LTC focuses on the growing and lucrative health care field with leases on nursing and health facilities.

4) National Retail Properties (NNN), 5.65% yield. Holds 1,500 properties throughout the United States.

5) Realty Income (O), 4.70% yield. A stable REIT with tenants like FedEx and BJ’s Wholesale Club.

Photo by Svilen001.

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Now that Facebook has filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company’s actual IPO date is drawing near. It’s unclear when shares in the company will start trading, but we can make a rough guess.

Facebook filed its 200-page Form S-1 on February 1, 2012. The SEC, NASD and state securities organizations must approve the S-1 before Facebook shares can start trading. That process takes anywhere from 20 to 60 days. That means Facebook shares could start trading as early as the end of February. In all likelihood, though, it will probably take longer for Facebook’s S-1 to get approved.

Facebook’s S-1 weighs in at 14MB and 200 pages. It’s also been subject to close public scrutiny. The SEC will want to ensure everything’s correct, and that means they’ll probably take closer to 60 days to approve the filing. If they find any omissions or need clarifications, they could require Facebook to file an amended S-1, which could further delay the IPO process.

Our best guess is you can look for your opportunity to buy stock in Facebook around the end of March or beginning of April 2012.

Photo by Dreamtwist.

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High dividend yields equate to high risk, and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) have some of the highest yields on stock exchanges right now. That means they’re among the riskiest of investments right now, too. To understand why their yields are so high, you first need to understand how REITs work.

REITs make money by borrowing gobs of cash at low interest rates, then using those greenbacks to buy higher-yielding mortgage securities (things like rental properties, derivatives or office space). It’s similar to how banks work. They borrow cash from the Federal Reserve at near-zero percent interest rates, then loan that money out to home buyers and small businesses at rates starting around 3.5 percent.

Banks make stable loans. REITs make riskier bets, and that means they stand to make more money. Once the interest rates start to rise, though (and the Fed has signaled that could start as early as 2014), the profitability of REITs goes down (sometimes dangerously fast).

That’s why investors have been wary of REITs. The historically low interest rates set by the Fed can’t last. REIT investors know that, so they diligently watch interest rates while holding shares in a REIT.

Before investing in REITs, there’s one other factor you need to understand: dividends from REITs are subject to higher taxes than normal dividends. This happens because REITs enjoy special tax benefits. By paying out 90 percent of their income as dividends, the REIT itself doesn’t have to pay taxes.

So long as you understand the unique risks, investing in REITs can be very profitable. Let’s take a quick look at the Top 5 highest dividend-yielding REITs:

1) Invesco Mortgage Capital Inc. (NYSE:IVR). Yield: 21.45%. Residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

2) American Capital Agency Corp. (NASDAQ:AGNC). Yield: 18.86%. Residential mortgage pass-through securities.

3) Resource Capital Corp. (NYSE:RSO). Yield: 16.72%. Invests in real estate debt through a series of subsidiaries.

4) CYS Investments Inc. (NYSE:CYS). Yield: 14.84%. Residential mortgage pass-through securities.

5) Chimera Investment Corporation (NYSE:CIM). Yield: 14.10%. Residential and commercial mortgage-backed securities.

Photo by Gerard79.

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This post is part of our long-running “How to get rich” series. Click see all the posts.

There’s this tendency to believe we need a revolutionary idea in order to get rich. The fact is, most of the world’s millionaires (and billionaires) got rich off of industries we probably thumb our noses at: fertilizer companies, trailer parks, and lawncare franchises work just as well as founding the next Zynga, Twitter or Facebook.

A recent article in Forbes drove home this fact when they profiled the Top 3 richest people in Africa. All three of them made their cash off industrial businesses:

1) Aliko Dangote, $10.1 billion in market cap in his cement company Dangote Cement. Also mills flour and refines sugar.

2) Nicky Oppenheimer, $6.5 billion from selling his stake in diamond company DeBeers. Also owns 2 percent of mining giant Anglo American.

3) Nassef Sawiris, $4.75 billion as head of Egypt’s biggest public company, Orascom Construction. Also building a fertilizer plant in Brazil.

There’s no shame in founding a company that does the sort of work no one else wants to do. Commercial cleaning franchises, for instance, often make Entrepreneur magazine’s list of the top franchising companies in the country. Copying an idea that’s proven to work and steadily growing your earnings year after year is the surest way to getting rich. And starting a franchise (rather than going off on your own) should help you avoid the pitfalls most rookies make (see our list of the Top Five Cheap Franchises to start $10,000 or less for some ideas).

One other thing to note: the richest men in Africa (and I can say men because there are no women who made the “top 40″ list) are old. They have an average age of 61, according to Forbes. That’s another aspect to getting rich that a lot of people don’t want to admit: it takes a hell of a lot of work and a hell of a lot of time.

One of my high school friends recently left his cozy corporate job to start a software company. It’s doing well, but he’s hardly sleeping. I get emails from his at 4 a.m. He thinks he’s getting an ulcer and his back hurts from “sitting all the time.”

Some weeks, he bills his clients more than 100 hours. That’s 14 hours a day, seven days a week. I ask him why he’s doing it, and he says “I have a plan. I’m going to trash my body for six months and make this work.”

“What if it doesn’t?” I ask.

“Then, I’m going to close down the business and go back to corporate America.”

At least, he’s trying, and that’s what separates him from almost everyone else I know. He’s willing to put in the hours that it takes to reach a goal – even at the expense of a social life and perhaps his health! It’s a tough trade-off, and it’s probably a pretty extreme example, but I think it’s the key to making lots of money.

It’s hard work, and it’s doing the things no one else can or wants to do.

Photo Credit: Nbauer.

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This post is part of our long-running “How to get rich” series. Click see all the posts.

Hindsight is 20/20. I could have went to college and studied programming for mobile phones. I could have been a mid- to senior-level programmer by 2007 when the first-generation iPhone came out. I could have founded a mobile game development company and, well, started driving a Bentley.

No such luck. But I tell that what-if story to illustrate the point that we often identify trends in business long before that trend goes worldwide. But most of us don’t do a damn thing about it. A prime example of this is the newspaper industry. They reported on the Internet every day, while at the same time clinging to a print-first mentality that let younger, more nimble news start-ups steal eyeballs from them on the Web.

Like Wayne Gretzky skating to where the puck is going, we need to identify trends and get on the leading edge of them. This doesn’t mean we need to go to college and learn how to program applications for iPads. Getting on the leading edge of a trend could be as simple as an unemployed person in a town with high unemployment moving to a city where there are lots of high-paying jobs to be had.

Let’s take Bismarck, N.D. for instance. Forbes columnist Rich Karlgaard points out that the discovery of a major oilfield (the Bakken reserve) has lead to a surging job market where “unskilled laborers can make up to $120,000 a year.” The work’s 12 hours a day, seven days a week, two weeks on, two weeks off (and you might have to live in a barracks-like “man camp”), but there’s money to be had. Even a McDonald’s in the town of Williston is paying $20 an hour for counter help.

The whole thing sounds too good to be true. So I got on some job boards and starting looking for oilfield jobs in North Dakota. Lo and behold, I found at least one that’s willing to pay people with no experience up to $80,000 a year. You just have to be able to lift 50 pounds and stay alert for 12 hours in a row. Here’s the posting (and here’s a PDF screenshot of the posting for posterity in case the posting is ever taken down). The pay range is listed in the right-hand column at $50,000-$80,000 a year.

The world belongs to those who see opportunities and find ways to exploit them. It doesn’t matter if those opportunities are in our backyards or 2,000 miles away.

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This is a follow-up to one of the most popular blog posts on this site: Five cheap franchises to start with less than $10,000. Here are five MORE businesses you could launch with very little in the way of capital investment:

1) Stroller Strides. Stroller Strides offers fitness programs for new moms and their babies. Since the business serves new mothers, it makes sense to have mothers run the company’s franchised outlets. Currently, Stroller Strides boasts of more than 1,200 locations in 44 states. Start-up costs range from $4,000 to $18,000 (per Entrepreneur). www.strollerstrides.com.

2) GarageExperts. GarageExperts helps consumers “unclutter their worlds” by redesigning their garages to maximize storage and cleanliness. The company offers cabinets, floor coatings, racks and more. Start-up costs range from $4,600 to $20,500 (per Entrepreneur). www.garageexperts.com.

3) Buildingstars. A commercial cleaning company based in St. Louis, Buildingstars added 34 new franchisees in 2011. The company’s emphasis on “green cleaning” could be a part of that as it not only lowers costs for businesses, but protects the environment, too. Start-up costs range from $2,200 to $52,800 (per Entrepreneur). www.buildingstars.com.

4) Jazzercise. Jazzercise offers cardio classes that fuse jazz music, Pilates, yoga, and kickboxing for a one-hour workout that burns up to 600 calories. The company now has nearly 8,200 locations across the country. Start-up costs range from $2,980 to $76,500 (per Entrepreneur). www.jazzercise.com.

5) Fairway Divorce Solutions. A company that helps its clients agree on the best financial and custodial options during a divorce, Fairway serves as a mediator during the often-painful process of splitting up. The company added eight locations in 2011. Start-up costs range from $10,000 to 35,000 (per Entrepreneur). www.fairwaydivorcefranchise.com.

Other low-cost franchises include In Home Pet Services ($7k+) and restroom deodorizing company Aerowest/Westair Deodorizing Services ($8.5K+).

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