Where to Invest in 2025
Anyone looking to make the best investment in 2025 must take into account the unique situation that will characterize the next 12 months:
- New and unprecedented economic balances
- Geopolitical scenarios
- What makes an investment the best choice
The best investment in 2025 must consider a multitude of interdependent factors. The decision on where to invest in 2025 cannot be reduced to a simple selection of assets (stocks or bonds, commodities or safe havens, Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies, the real economy or real estate). First, it is essential to evaluate the region of the world where you plan to invest and the potential geopolitical scenarios, which could be reshaped by both foreseeable and unforeseen events.
New and Unprecedented Economic Balances
2024 ends with the continents drifting further apart. From China’s entry into the WTO in 2001 to the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, the world seemed increasingly globalized and interconnected (turbo-globalization). However, in recent years, we’ve witnessed phenomena like friendshoring, which has redefined value chains, favoring supply relationships between geopolitically allied countries. We’ve also seen full-blown trade wars and the return of tariffs, with the striking example of the U.S. imposing a 100% tariff on cars produced in China. Anyone aiming to make the best investment in 2025 must take all of this into account.
In practical terms, while for decades the answer to “Where should I invest this year?” was a confident “Everywhere!” or “Across the world!“, recent years have witnessed the collapse of the win-win rhetoric that promoted increasingly interconnected nations and continents working together for mutual advantage. The reality that investors must clearly grasp is that by 2025, the U.S., Europe, and Asia will be even more distant and antagonistic towards each other, while Africa, South America, and Oceania will continue to remain on the sidelines of the global game.
China’s decline, marked by its ongoing real estate crisis, deflation, and weak domestic demand, is still far from reversing. Rate cuts and liquidity injections sparked stock market rallies at the end of the year, but they have not convinced investors to reverse the foreign capital outflows that characterized all of 2024. The fear—now an established reality—is that China’s overproduction, unable to find buyers in the domestic market, will flood the rest of the world with low-cost yet technologically advanced products, such as solar panels and electric cars, produced through dumping practices. Given China’s significance, its crisis weighs down all of Asia, as neither Vietnam nor India has yet managed to take over China’s role as the “world’s leading manufacturer.” It is likely that the best investment in 2025 will not be in Asia.
On the other side of the ocean, the United States appears to have achieved a successful soft landing: bringing inflation under control by significantly raising interest rates without stalling the economic engine. As 2024 draws to a close, inflation is slowing and nearing 2%, GDP is trending towards a 3% increase, employment is growing, and unemployment claims are declining. This is all despite the introduction of high tariffs to protect domestic production, which could have reignited inflation, and despite uncertainties related to the Biden vs. Trump election showdown, followed by Harris vs. Trump. Given these conditions, it’s clear that the U.S. economy will be the main protagonist of 2025, the place where the best investments of the year are likely to be made.
In this context, Europe is unable to make a significant impact. On one hand, it risks being flooded by Chinese-made products that could wipe out entire industrial sectors (especially automotive) or stifle the growth of others (e.g., solar panels and batteries, for which Europe also lacks the necessary raw materials). On the other hand, Europe continues to view China as a crucial export market for German premium cars, Italian and French luxury goods like wine, high fashion, and for Mediterranean agricultural products. Fearful of retaliatory measures that could hurt its exports, Europe is approaching the issue of tariffs against China with little conviction.
At the same time, compared to the U.S., Europe lacks highly technological companies on par with Nasdaq giants. Due to antitrust regulations, Europe also lacks large corporations capable of competing with their American and Asian counterparts. Beyond a rethinking of internal market rules and political unity, Europe would need growth-oriented plans similar to the U.S. Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) or the industrial policy initiatives driven by the Chinese Communist Party. While such interventions were considered at the end of 2024 (in the Draghi Report on Competitiveness), it is unlikely that all EU member states will agree to vote in favor, as unanimity is required for such decisions. Therefore, it is unlikely that the best investment in 2025 will be found in Europe.
Geopolitical Scenarios
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on one side, and the escalating conflict in the Middle East on the other, still appear far from resolution. The main effect of these events has been to strengthen the Russia/China/Iran alliance, which risks bringing the world back to scenarios long forgotten since the end of the Cold War. Additionally, a third conflict is on the verge of erupting at any moment: the one between China and Taiwan. The economies of Europe, the Middle East, and potentially Asia have already been, and could be further, damaged by the continuation or intensification of these conflicts. Meanwhile, the United States is geographically shielded from these issues and might even benefit from such developments.
What makes an investment the best choice
Now that the United States has been identified as the best country and economy to invest in for 2025, what are the characteristics that make one investment better than another?
When it comes to investments, the less experienced tend to focus on a single factor: profitability, or at most, two factors by adding probability. The higher the return on investment and the more likely it is to generate a profit rather than a loss—based on historical data—the better the investment seems. However, a more experienced investor knows that profitability and probability must also be linked to the risk involved, particularly considering the “worst-case scenario.” Investors with even greater expertise recognize the need to account for another factor: volatility. Investing shouldn’t cause undue stress, taking the investor on an emotional rollercoaster. Therefore, the best investment in 2025 should be characterized by:
- Good profitability
- High likelihood of profit
- Low risk
- Minimal volatility
And, ideally, predictability as well.
This reasoning leads us to exclude entire categories of assets:
- Individual U.S. stocks – Over the long term, it’s nearly impossible to consistently pick the winners (cherry-picking).
- U.S. equity funds – They are often expensive, especially considering that most underperform their benchmark indices.
- U.S. equity ETFs – Given that markets have risen significantly in recent years, one or more corrections are likely in 2025.
- U.S. bonds, bond ETFs, or bond funds – A large portion of U.S. debt is held by China, and attacks or counterattacks leveraging panic selling cannot be ruled out.
Due to volatility and unpredictability, investments in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies should also be excluded, as they are true emotional rollercoasters and lack an underlying asset. The same applies to commodities; consider how the price of a pound of coffee jumped from $146 to $275 in just a year, while lithium lost over 50% of its value in a similar period. For the opposite reasons, safe-haven investments should also be excluded. Although gold performed strongly throughout 2024, repeatedly setting new records, it is unlikely to continue its upward trend, and by nature, it generates no yield.
The best investment in 2025
For the reasons discussed so far, investing in U.S. income-producing real estate appears to be the most effective choice for making the best investment in 2025:
- Real estate is a tangible asset with a solid physical foundation.
- It can be insured against disasters (the worst-case scenario), which is not possible with financial crises or bankruptcies related to stocks, bonds, or other assets.
- Properties are rented to working families, so they are grounded in the dynamism and stability of the U.S. real economy.
- They offer a certain return, based on the rents that current tenants are already paying (between 6% and 10% for the properties listed on this site).
- Real estate appreciates over time, generating capital gains that, while unpredictable in the long term, are virtually assured.
- They can often be sold within a short time, as they are viewed as investment assets by buyers from around the world.
Invest in U.S. income properties with OPISAS
If you would like to learn more about the best investment for 2025 and discover the available opportunities, you can contact us at contact@opisas.comto schedule an appointment with a consultant who speaks your language.
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