There are many ways to retire rich. In the long run, investing in the stock market has been one of the most effective ways to accomplish this feat.

Since 1980, the much followed S&P 500 generated an average annual total return (including dividends) of just over 11%. That means it takes less than seven years, with dividend reinvestment, for investors to double their money with an S&P 500 tracking index.

But over the past decade, stocks have not dominated assets in the earnings column. This distinction belongs to cryptocurrencies. For now, none are generating more buzz than inspired jokes. Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE).

The answer to “Why Dogecoin?” revolves around three basic catalysts. Enthusiasts believe in its increased adoption, lower transaction fees, compared to the two largest cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin and Ethereum), and the perception that it has the best community. This translated into a six-month gain of up to 27,000%!

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Seven reasons to abandon Dogecoin

But there’s a catch: Dogecoin lacks substance and has all the hallmarks of a pump and dump system. Although it has been performing considerably in recent months, there are seven very good reasons to give up Dogecoin right now:

  1. Its fees are not close to the lowest: Enthusiasts like that Dogecoin transaction fees are lower than Bitcoin and Ethereum, but they fail to mention that other coins, such as Stellar, Nano, Ripple, Litecoin, and Hyphen all of them process transactions on their networks for much less than what you would be charged through Dogecoin.
  2. The validation of the transaction is not that fast: In addition to being more expensive, Dogecoin transactions are not validated and settled faster than Stellar, Nano, Ripple, or Dash. The typical Dogecoin payment takes 20 minutes to validate and settle, which is twice as long as Bitcoin.
  3. Transaction data shows stagnant adoption: According to data from BitInfoCharts, Dogecoin experienced very brief spikes in daily transactions in 2021, but has otherwise averaged 50,000 transactions on its blockchain per day over the past year. By comparing, Visa (NYSE: V) and MasterCard 700 million transactions on average Daily in 2018, according to the Nilson report.
  4. Minimum utility in the real world: It has been eight years since Dogecoin debuted, and at that time only 1,300 mostly obscure global companies accepted it as a form of payment. This figure further underscores the small real-world utility that Dogecoin has beyond crypto exchanges.
  5. Continuous dilution: Cryptocurrency miners who validate Dogecoin transactions receive bulk rewards, currently equal to 10,000 Dogecoin. Each year 5.26 billion Dogecoin is created resulting in a constant dilution of existing stakeholders.
  6. Entirely motivated by the intangible hype: If you haven’t figured it out from the previous points, there is nothing tangible that is pushing Dogecoin higher. His biggest catalyst is the hope that Elon Musk talks about it on a daily basis. Sadly, Musk mentioning Dogecoin has no effect on its usefulness (or lack thereof).
  7. The story says that all bubbles burst: Finally, every parabolic climb in history has finally been greeted with tears. It’s only a matter of time before feelings change and common sense prevails.
A magnifying glass resting on a financial newspaper, with the words Enlarged Market Data.

Image source: Getty Images.

Kick Dogecoin and Buy These Top Quality Stocks

Instead of putting your money to good use in a literal joke of an asset with no real stamina, I would suggest ditching Dogecoin and buying the following three stocks right now.

Visa

Despite their size, branded companies can still make a fortune for patient investors. A good example is the payment processing giant Visa.

Visa is a cyclical business, which is a fancy way of saying that it can struggle through contractions and recessions, but it thrives when the US and global economy is expanding. However, recessions often last only a few months to a few quarters. Meanwhile, economic expansions are measured in years. A bet on Visa favors long-term investors as gross domestic product (GDP) in the United States and globally will increase over time. Higher GDP means more spending, and more payments to process will increase Visa’s bottom line.

Another thing to consider is that Visa controls over half of all credit card network buying volume share in the United States – the United States is the # 1 consumer market in the world. There is also no shortage of regions to expand and which remain underbanked, such as the Middle East, Africa and Southeast Asia.

Finally, Visa is not a lender. While he may use economic expansions as an opportunity to generate interest income and commission income, not being a lender means he is not directly exposed to credit defaults during the recession. . Not having to put money aside for delinquencies is why Visa is rebounding so quickly from economic downturns.

A commercial indoor cannabis grow farm.

Image source: Getty Images.

Innovative industrial properties

U.S. marijuana stocks could very well put investors green this decade. But it’s not just the direct players who are going to roll in the dough. Auxiliary pot stocks like Innovative industrial properties (NYSE: IIPR) could save long-term investors a lot of money.

Innovative Industrial Properties, also known as IIP, is a real estate investment trust (REIT) focused on medical cannabis. This means that it acquires cultivation and processing facilities in the cannabis space with the aim of leasing these assets for an extended period. The IIP thrives on long-term rental income and generates modest organic growth through annual rent increases based on inflation and management fees.

As of May 5, 2021, IIP owned 69 properties across 18 legalized states. The 6.2 million square feet of this rental space has been fully leased, with a weighted average lease term of 16.7 years. Although the company no longer reports its average return on invested assets, I wouldn’t be surprised if it received a full payback for its investments in seven years or less.

Innovative Industrial also benefits from its sale-leaseback program. Since marijuana is completely illegal at the federal level, some banks are unwilling to offer basic banking services to multi-state operators. IIP intervenes and acquires facilities for money. It then immediately re-leases these assets to the seller. This is proving to be a win-win, with the multi-state operator receiving the much-needed liquidity and the IIP constituting a long-term tenant.

A close-up view of a gold bar.

Image source: Getty Images.

Kirkland Lake Gold

Gold stock Kirkland Lake Gold (NYSE: KL) would also be a much superior investment option to Dogecoin.

Kirkland Lake has two distinct catalysts that work in its favor. First, the price of gold seems to rise or rise in the coming years. A combination of historically low borrowing rates, ongoing quantitative easing, inflated money supply, and the prospect of higher inflation all favor the shiny yellow metal. It’s easy for gold stocks to thrive when the primary asset they produce and sell generates more income per ounce.

Second, there are business specific reasons for it to grow. For example, the company’s all-inclusive sustaining cost (AISC) of $ 846 per ounce of gold in the first quarter equates to an operating margin of nearly $ 1,000 per ounce. Kirkland’s three operating mines have always been among the most efficient, as far as AISC is concerned.

In addition, no gold value offers a more impressive record than Kirkland Lake. He ended March with $ 792.2 million in cash and no debt. The majority of gold stocks have a net debt position. What’s more, Kirkland Lake has repurchased 20 million shares of its stock since the start of 2020 and has tripled its dividend.

It is a top notch mining stock to buy for precious metals enthusiasts.

This article represents the opinion of the author, who may disagree with the “official” recommendation position of a premium Motley Fool consulting service. We are heterogeneous! Questioning an investment thesis – even one of our own – helps us all to think critically about investing and make decisions that help us become smarter, happier, and richer.