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The objectives of investment for young professionals are a little different to those who are in the peak of their careers or those who are retired. Young professionals have the capacity to take more risk with their investments and they are usually more aggressive in terms of investment strategies. The downside to such unstoppable enthusiasm is their impatience to thoroughly learn about a product before investing and their lack of experience and knowledge in areas that they choose to invest in.

Many young investors neglect the important of diversification and would invest their full set of income and savings onto risky stocks in the market for quick cash turnover. The danger of such act is foreseeable - when an economic crisis hits, their hard-earned cash saved from the first few years of their careers all goes into trash. The golden rule for young investors to remember is to remain calm and not be caught up by the fascinations for immediate financial results. All investment portfolios should contain a balance of short term and long term investment, liquid assets and commodities, and most importantly, a spare sum of cash for any emergency purpose which should be equivalent to at least two to three months of one’s basic salary. Being calm and observative in times of turbulence will bring upon financial successes. Young investors should not blindly follow how others invest but learn to understand their own financial needs and investment personalities by constantly reading up on current political and economic affairs and doing financial self-evaluations.

When it comes to investing in commodities, young investors are strongly advised to learn as much as they can about an investable product before deciding what and when to invest. In the case of diamonds, young investors can obtain expert opinions and investing consultations from diamonds investment specialists and learn the secrets of the trade from insiders such as wholesalers and suppliers. With today’s technologies, young investors can also read about the diamond trade online and discover for themselves whether some of the common myths are in fact true from experts and specialists. Attend educational and informative seminars to touch and feel a diamond. Should you be extremely interested, many institutions offer part time and full time study courses on gemstones and diamonds.

Investing in diamonds is a relatively easier mean of commodity investment as to energy goods and others since the source of information and knowledge is everywhere. Besides, investors can touch, feel and look into a diamond and learn to appreciate its value. Having said that, one should not be immediately fascinated by what diamonds have to offer and decide to invest simultaneously. Observe general market trend and worldwide economic cycle before you make a decision. Make sure you seek a reliable and trustworthy diamond investment advisor for expert opinions before owning a diamond.

Before you make any important purchases, you often learn about the product, ask questions, and understand how the purchase will suit your needs and your wants. Likewise when you decide to invest in diamonds, it is imperative that you learn about them, play with them in your hands, become familiar with inner secrets and skills of the trade, and understand how the diamond trading market works. Remember that the yield of returns for diamond investment is dependent on the duration, quality and type. A good way to start is to learn the 4Cs which are the basic assessing criteria for a diamond’s quality. Further, you should spend time with an expert or specialist in diamonds investment and learn the other factors of grading a diamond, such as its purity, cutting proportions, make, treatments, transparency, which are crucial factors that affect the ultimate value of a diamond.

Keep abreast of the market’s current demands every so often to assess the value of your diamond portfolio while keeping in mind that diamonds’ value generally tend to rise over longer periods of time (with the exception of periods of hyperinflation where prices of diamonds can double or triple in half a year). Last but not least, keep the following handy points in mind in order to become a wise and knowledgeable diamond investor:

• Always go for rounds– Fashion and cutting styles come and go in the diamond industry and rarely do they return, so unless you are looking for something different than from your huge collection of round brilliant diamonds, your best bet to choosing an investable diamond is the ultimate, classic 57 or 58 faceted round-cut diamond which shines brighter than any other shapes of diamonds. Rounds are always in demand and their rate of price increase is always steeper and speedier than fancy shaped diamonds. In auctions and in the diamond trade market, round diamonds always have more prevailing price valuations. Just remember, when proceeding with diamond investment, always choose the diamond which you can resell in the future.
• Opt for colourless– Although fancy coloured diamonds are popular and they are incredibly expensive as seen in public auctions, this does not suggest that they are worth your first set of investment in diamonds. Should you wish to redeem your investment, it is much more arduous to find a serious buyer for a large and rare intense vivid pink diamond of 10 carats, than to locate a buyer for a 3 carats D colour, internally flawless diamond due to actual market demand and the narrowed number of potential buyers. For novice in diamonds, go for a colourless diamond with good colour grade to secure your investment in both short and long run.
• Beware of scams– Some irresponsible diamond traders would sell their diamonds in seal packets. When purchasing a diamond, whether for investment or for adornment, never ever buy one without inspecting it under proper white lighting in a white walled room and with the necessary diamond grading tools (e.g. a 10 times magnification loupe, a European white colour card, white colour grading pad, tweezers, etc.) which should be supplied to you at no cost by the seller. Beware of yellow lighting and tinged coloured walls which can alter or enhance the visible colour of a diamond, making it shine more than its normal rate of scintillation.
• Choose a loose diamond with a grading report,not by a grading report – It is better to buy a diamond first and later set it onto an ornament or jewellery so that you can design it according to your own taste and preference to reflect your personality and character. Buying diamonds that have already been set onto some kinds of mount may obstruct your thorough view of the diamond during inspection and examination. When selecting a diamond, make sure you look at the diamond under a 10 times magnification loupe in a properly lit room to evaluate a diamond’s transparency, purity, surface graining, polish lines, etc. Do not purchase a diamond by just looking at its diamond grading report, there may be characteristics that are not written on the report that you need to view and be aware of before making your purchase. With the help of an expert or gemologist, you will be able to identify these hidden features not clearly stated in a gem lab report.
• Buy at wholesale price– The pricing of diamonds is, in reality, not as mysterious as it seems. The world’s diamond community utilizes the Rapaport Diamond Report as a channel to buy and sell diamonds at unanimously preset prices. At retail shops, diamond retailers put additional prices onto the average diamond prices and gain an extremely high profit margin from consumers. This is partly due to retail competition and the rising rate of high rents in premier locations. Other reasons include retailers’ slow stock turn of their jewellery, high rate of interests for their borrowed capital and security costs of carrying large stocks, their profit margin has to be high enough to cover their cost. Hence, if you are looking to buy a diamond from a retailer, you are partially paying for their operating costs and rent. In order to maximize your investment returns, always buy from diamonds suppliers or wholesalers who price their diamonds according to the Rapaport Diamond Report. Buying diamonds at retail price will eat into your investment pool.

Buying from a trustworthy diamond supplier who is equipped with its own team of experts and gemologists will offer your professional advices and opinions on the stones. Instead of being pressurized to make a purchase at a retail shop, you can simply walk into a wholesaling supplier nowadays and search for a diamond at the comfort of your fingertips.

Investment is for continuous financial growth and protection of hard-earned assets. A prudent investor diversifies her investments across all sectors, from stocks, real estates to commodities so to hedge against inflation during times of hyperinflation and to preserve wealth at economic toughs. Diamonds is one of the best commodity investments for many tangible and intrinsic reasons and this article lists out ten reasons to invest in diamonds.

• Durability and resilience against nature’s vagaries- While many investment commodities can decay in substance or depreciate in value, diamond is a stable and steady investment since it is unaffected by atmospheric vagaries, environmental changes or other pollutants. Diamonds are formed underneath the earth’s crust millions of years ago and it is one of the oldest substances in existence. It is the hardest rock on earth, being the only form of greatest hardness on the Mohs scale. Due to the uniformed properties, diamonds are still diamonds with the passage of time; they will possess the same shine and quality and will not degrade like those that do on the first day of its purchase (i.e. cars, advanced technological devices or red wines). Diamonds appreciate in value with time and investing in them offers stability, security and value.
• Universal currency and unanimous form of payment– Although it is not commonly known that diamond is a widely acceptable form of payment in any trade transaction, its value is non-refutable globally. Diamond owners can liquidate their possession in any countries while investors cannot turn their local share certificates into cash when they travel.
• Universal pricing– Unlike the cost of other commodities where prices fluctuate according to free markets, diamonds are indirectly controlled by a universal price report, commonly known as Rapaport Diamond Price Report, which states the weekly average market prices for each type of diamond. As a result, diamond prices are generally standardized across all continents and diamonds’ values are unified all over the globe. Investors do not have to suffer geographic price difference when liquidating their diamonds.
• Scarcity– On average, 80% of the diamonds that actually get extracted (100 million carats = 20 tonnes) are not usable in the industry due to its poor quality. The remaining 20% (25 million carats = 5 tonnes) of extracted diamonds are used for making jewelleries but only a mere 5% of the 20% of cut diamonds have a weight that is more than one carat. De Beers also recently announced that if they are not able to discover new mines of diamonds, the worldwide supply of diamonds would run out in forty years. On the other hand, diamonds are often associated with memorable life events such as weddings, anniversaries, births and celebration and they connote romance, love, strength, power and rarity at all times. Many crave for diamonds, especially the burgeoning upper-class from developing economies like China and India. Once diamonds become their possessions, they refrain from selling them which render an eternal shortage of diamonds in the trading market. Hence, diamonds’ value never drops. With such high demand and limited supply of diamonds, diamonds value is constantly on the rise and investors can depend on diamonds for high yield returns.
• Security during recession and downfalls of financial institutions- In times of hyperinflation when all commodities rise in prices, diamonds, along with other intrinsic assets such as gold and land, increase in value, rendering diamonds as a hedge against inflation. While stocks and bonds are subject to political risk, operation and liquidity risks and market fluctuations, value of diamonds are not directly linked to stock and bond markets. Fluctuations in stocks and bonds will not affect value of diamonds directly.
• Insurance for future– Many wise women collect diamonds and high quality gems as runaway money, or security money, so that if they are ever deserted by their husbands, they can turn their diamond possession into cash for security.
• Adornment and Appreciation– Diamonds can be worn enjoyably and adorned while they appreciate in value with the rate of which money inflates. They have intrinsic value just like gold and land. Unlike fashion and other commodities, diamonds do not depreciate over time but increase over time. During financial turbulent times, while stock and real estate market prices drop, diamonds rise in value. Investors can also build jewelleries with the invested diamond so to enhance its collection value.
• Physical closeness and low maintenance– Keeping your diamond investments safe and sound is no easier with diamonds. All you need to do is to put them at home or in safes and they will grow in value. The physical closeness is only offered in diamonds and not any other investment tools. People who invest money need to keep a close eye on the performance and current position of the invested markets or latest information about the invested company, but since diamonds are things of luxury and wealth, diamonds are accountable for steady growth in value without the need to keep a close eye on market trends.
• More room for new investors– In the old days, diamond investment is only accessible by a small niche of professional diamond traders who work secretively within the trade so to ensure that their business is less fraught with dangers like theft or fraud. However, with globalization and the accessibility of internet, many amateur investors are learning skills of the diamond trade from diamond investment advisors and wholesalers in order to diversify their investment portfolio. Given that the number of diamond investors is still relatively small worldwide, there is a wide variety of choice for investment for diamond investors, namely diamond investment funds, trusts, listed companies or simply purchasing diamonds for long term investment and personal possession.
• Portability and tax-free– Diamonds can condense a large sum of wealth to a small item which can be easily transported from one place to another. Investors can enjoy not having to pay capital gains tax or possession tax for owning diamonds as diamonds. And therefore, diamond investment has been a long time wealth gaining channel for the riches and it is becoming more and more popular nowadays.