You may have heard that Alpacas make a great investment because of their high annual yields of fiber and the lucrative income it can provide. But did you also know that the tax code makes offers huge benefits to Alpaca owners?

Investing in Alpacas has many advantages

Whether you’re an individual with the ability to raise an Alpaca for fiber on a small farm or breed alpacas to shear or sell on a larger area of land, the tax code is full of deductions that will make investing in an Alpaca even more profitable than many other forms of investment.

Section 179 of the tax code allows for taxpayers to begin claiming deductions for some capital assets, the things purchased as investments toward profits, as soon as they are purchased. Alpacas are among the limited number of purchased investments that are included in this section. These are benefits that you will not be eligible to receive if you put money toward a traditional investment opportunity, like buying stock or a CD.

If you own an Alpaca for over a year, it is subject to capital gains tax, like most other investments. Capital gains are profits from an investment that has been resold. Your initial livestock will be subject to this provision if you sell them, as will any offspring from your livestock.

At the end of the day, Alpacas are a form of investment that offer significant and unique tax deductions that will start benefitting you as an investor right away. As long as you keep them, you won’t need to pay capital gains taxes, so Alpacas an be a great long-term investment opportunity. Or, if you choose to sell them, take the profit and pay the capital gains taxes on the sale, you still come out ahead—you will have accumulated enough tax benefits between the time of purchase and the sale to compensate for paying livestock capital gains taxes on your Alpacas.

Thinking about investing to build your retirement, establish an emergency fund or just watch your money grow a little faster than with a savings account interest rate? Before you invest stock, there are some things to consider so you can invest well and in a way that best suits your needs and investment size.

1. Diversify
   Don’t put all of your money into one fund. Look for ways to diversify your investment and capitalize on as many of them as possible. Whether it’s national or international or just multiple industries, spreading your money around will give you safety because it one fund fails, you’ll still have the opportunity for growth in other areas of your investment.
2. Buy the Company
   When you put your money into the stock market, what you’re really doing is putting your money behind companies. You are putting your trust in their success and your money toward helping them succeed. Think carefully about which industries and individual corporations you want to support in that way and which you feel are going to succeed in the long term.
3. Large and Stable
   Look for large and stable industries to invest in, such as utilities and basic commodities, which people still buy even in times of financial hardship. Even when the market takes a hit, people let other things go from their budgets before electricity and necessities like soap and nonperishable food.
4. Assess Risk
   Depending on the type of investment you’re looking for, you’ll prefer aggressive, moderate or conservative investments. Aggressive investments put money behind funds that have a higher risk of failing, but if they succeed they will provide the largest returns possible. Moderate risk is the most common choice because it provides reasonable returns with less risk. If you’re investing less and depending on maintaining the original amount invested, very conservative investments and bonds are the safest, although lowest, return possible.

Ask anyone in this economy if they’ve got any money to spare and they’re almost definitely going to tell you:

No.

But as hard as it is to set money aside for savings, let alone for something as far off as retirement, experts say that adults in their 20’s should begin saving now to get the maximum benefit from their retirement accounts.

MSN Money reported last week that,

“Someone who puts $4,000 a year into retirement accounts starting at 22 can have $1 million by age 62, assuming 8% average annual returns. Wait 10 years to start contributing, and you’d have to put in more than twice as much — $8,800 a year — to reach the same goal.”

This is both encouraging and discouraging news for those of us in our twenties. The job market is sparse and beyond that, the jobs that are available require young adults to go thousands of dollars into debt for proper education and training. Then again, we see our parents struggling through retirement and realize: we could be so much better off if we could only plan ahead now.

I even heard one financial advisor on NPR go so far as to advise those of us in our twenties to put saving for retirement ahead of paying off debt—we’ll end up with a big enough return on retirement accounts to justify the hit to our credit in mid-life. Something to consider critically for a generation that’s waist-deep in credit card debt, minimum wage jobs and a low-interest economy.

I’ve had a retirement account since I was 17-years-old, and I can tell you first hand that the small amount of graduation-gift money I put in it at the end of high school has multiplied exponentially since then. Knowing this, I can believe what they say about saving now for a huge nest-egg later, but the question has to be asked: If I save $4,000 a year for retirement, who’s going to pay my rent?