We’re not going to recommend a single stock, bond, mutual fund, or commodity to you today but this topic still is critical to getting your youth investment off to a rousing start. Beginning investors often get tied up trying to analyze and understand 100 different stocks all at once. Nothing wrong with this if you have plenty of free time but at Young Wealth we assume you do have other interests in life besides permanently burying your nose in the Wall Street Journal. We’re talking concepts here. In almost any educational endeavor, get the concepts right and the rest follows naturally. The concept at hand is universal demand. Learn it, live it, put it in your youth investment tool box for safekeeping. Universal demand can be defined as those items humans can’t live without. Notice we didn’t say “don’t want to live without.” It’s true you (and 12 kazillion other people) don’t want to do without an iPad but the truth is life will continue in the absence of one. Examples of true universal demand items are food, water, shelter, clothing. These things will always be in high, consistent demand because we must have them. Perhaps food is the biggest universal demand item of all. Unfortunately, to invest in it requires you buy stock from Wall Street or a commodity exchange brokerage. Recent years have shown that the stock market is one of the least effective mechanisms through which to invest. Learn it now or learn it later. Now is preferable. Too much of your money is siphoned away through administrative fees and commissions. Let’s look elsewhere to invest in a universal demand product. We suggest you consider shelter for your youth investment dollar, specifically shelter in the form of houses which can be rented to tenants, or what is called in the industry “income properties.” Great appreciation plus cash flow. Don’t try that with the stock market. With income properties you also cut out the middleman and administrative fees. Trust us, the concept of universal demand can make you a lot of money.