by Fred Fuld III
Are you looking for the perfect investment? Suppose you were offered the following:
1. A return of 10% in three months
2. The return is tax free
3. The investment may be entirely tax deductible
4. Guaranteed by the United States Government
5. Very low minimum investment
6. An easily transferable bearer investment with no registration required
7. The investment has intrinsic value
8. Provides protection against inflation
9. Can be considered a short term or long term investment
If you haven’t figured out what this investment is yet, it is the Forever Stamp, the stamp issued by the United States Post Office that is used to purchase one ounce of postage. It doesn’t matter how high the price of postage rises, even if the postage rate goes up to $10 an ounce, you can still use the Forever Stamp for one ounce of postage. The price of first class postage is scheduled to rise on January 27, 2019 from 50 cents to 55 cents, a 10% increase.
I realize that regular mail isn’t used as much anymore due to the proliferation of email, but many people still send out Christmas and holiday cards, birthday cards, and other bills and letters occasionally.
You can still buy these Forever stamps and take advantage of this ‘investment’. Over the long term, postage rates will continue to increase, especially with inflation. And since 1970, the average annual increase in the price of postage is around 5%. If you still pay some of your bills by mail, or you have a small company that does physical mailings to clients and customers (and of course, postage would be deductible), or you are with a club or organization that sends out printed monthly newsletters, then maybe it would be make sense to purchase these stamps before the rates go up.
After all, a 10% return is a 10% return.