Talk:Investments/@comment-88.202.177.228-20190520122650/@comment-31763506-20190521012834

Are you asking whether it's the case that some investments will never return the full cost of their purchase in the course of the game, the answer is "probably yes". That has nothing to do with whether they are optimal investments at a given investment cycle.

If your expectation is that, after playing TLS, investments should return their full purchase price in equity increase or cash dividends in a short time frame, you've been being spoiled by video game investment logic. A quick bit of back of the envelope math shows that Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway has averaged a ~13.84% annual ROI over the last 28 years. (May 17 1991 BRK.A 8,100; May 17 2019 BRK.A: 305,362; Deposit 8,100 at an annual rate of 13.84 compounded annually at the start of every compounding period for 28 years yields 305,310.58.)

That is literally as good as it gets in terms of financial investing. Higher investment returns are possible in principle, but it requires you to either invent and dominate a completely novel industry or have the government in your pocket.

Apropos of nothing Decanter, my warped memory of SL's post on the subject was that 4 was going to be the biggest chapter, not 5.