New York Magazine had an interesting feature a few weeks ago called:

“What if you had $100,000 to spend in 1998?”

It looks at what would have happened if you had bought a host of different investments, including real estate in New York City and art.

You’d think that real estate in New York would have been the holy grail (other than, maybe, San Francisco) in terms of appreciation.

If you had bought:

A one bedroom apartment on the upper east side…it would have cost you $85,000 and would now be worth:

$515,000

A Harlem Townhouse Shell…it would have cost you $95,000 and would now be worth:

$800,000 to $1.5 million

A One-bedroom Co-Op in the Le Havre Complex in Whitestone, Queens…it would have cost you $95,000 and would now be worth:

$225,000

None of these returns is awful and at least one is spectacular. But it does show you the value of location, location, location.

But what about stocks?

3,298 shares of Apple stock at $30.22 a share would have cost you…$99,995 and would now be worth:

$1,997,797

323 ounces of gold at $309.45 an ounce … it would have cost you $99,991 and would now be worth:

$301,488

Who said gold never went up?

I know what you’re thinking. What if I had bought a stock that wasn’t as great as Apple? In 1998, you might have bought Cisco instead. At its peak in 2000, it would have been worth around $800,000. But now it would be worth:

$165,530

A $100,000 investment in ExxonMobil would now be worth:

$466,923

And obviously, a $100,000 investment in Enron in 1998 would now be worth:

$0

What produced the best return in those ten years?

The purchase of Keith Haring’s “Untitled” from 1983. Purchase price was $107,000 at Christie’s auction house. It’s now worth:

$3 million

Now THAT’S a return. And it’s not real estate.

With crude at record highs and natural gas prices soaring, alternative energy companies are hot. Add to that global warming and there is strong demand to finding alternative ways to fuel our lifestyle.

The solar stocks have been all the rage for the last year or so. Should you invest in them?

Today, SunPower Corp. (SPWR) announced first quarter earnings and beat the street by four cents a share. Revenue was also higher.

More importantly, the company guided higher on earnings forecasts for the second quarter and the year. From the AP:

For the full year, the company said it now expects 2008 profit between $2.10 and $2.20 per share on revenue of $1.3 billion to $1.38 billion. In January, SunPower predicted earnings between $2 and $2.10 per share.

Sounds good, right?

Except that the company trades at a sky-high P/E. YahooFinance and Marketwatch are both putting it around 900 but it’s less than that. It looks like it’s probably around 45 times earnings based on their new yearly guidance.

As we’ve learned from the dot-com boom (and bust), the company better have an incredible growth story to be trading with a P/E at that level.

The S&P 500 has a P/E of around 16. Solar stocks are probably around 40.

Unfortunately, many of the other solar stocks are the same as Sunpower. They’re all expensive.

First Solar (FSLR), one of the more popular solar investments, has a P/E of 145. JA Solar (JASO) has a P/E of 58. SolarFun (SOLF) has a P/E of 34.

It’s not that I dislike the solar industry. Don’t get me wrong.

But the sector is far too expensive. Investors are buying on the “hope” of the future- not the actual future.

Buy stocks based on today’s earnings not tomorrow’s what “might be.”

Yes, the solar companies are growing. Yes, they will be a part of the energy scene in the future.

Just don’t overpay for them.

Right now, the sector is way overvalued.

Beware.

You might have missed the news recently that there is now not just one, but two, Indian ETFs that are available for investors.

Wisdom Tree launched the India ETF (ticker EPI) on Feb 21. It has an expense ratio of 0.88%.

Powershares launched its India ETF (ticker PIN) on Mar 5. It has an expense ratio of 0.78%.

What’s the big deal?

Before the launch of these two products, it was difficult to invest solely in India. There were only a few mutual funds that were India specific but all had large fees or loads making it expensive for the main street investor to invest.

What’s the difference between them?

The Wisdom Tree ETF (EPI) has 150 companies. The top four sectors:

Energy: 25.37%
Materials: 16.17%
Financials: 13.34%
Information Technology: 11.50%

The Powershares ETF (PIN) has 50 companies. The top four sectors:

Energy: 29.44%
Information Technology: 15.57%
Financials: 12.65%
Telecommunication Services: 11.11%

Both have Reliance Industries as their top holding. In the EPI, it is 13% of the portfolio. In the PIN, it is 11.30%.

The funds have slight sector differences. Investors might also prefer the greater diversity of the Wisdom Tree fund.

Otherwise, they’re pretty similar.

You should check out each portfolio’s holdings:

Wisdom Tree EPI
Powershares PIN

The Indian market has had a difficult 2008 after soaring in 2007. The Indian market was down 28.55% in the first quarter. Volatility is expected in the emerging markets.

I know- no one likes to talk about taxes during tax season.

The filing deadline is 11 days away.

It’s not too late to put some money into an IRA. There’s a myth that you have to fully fund it with the full amount - $4000 or $5000.

Do you have $500 sitting around? I know, during this belt-tightening time- you may not. But maybe you do.

Even if you put just $500 into an account, it will grow for you over the next few decades. You’d be surprised what $500 can do.

Maybe you don’t have any extra cash right now so you can’t fund your IRA for 2007. You can still start funding an IRA for 2008 and do it slowly.

I’m a big believer in putting a little bit of money aside every month.

I’ve talked about sharebuilder before and am a big fan of it. Sharebuilder.com (now owned by ING) allows you to put whatever amount you want, say $100 or more a month, into either a traditional 401k or a Roth 401k.

If you do $100 a month, that’s $1200 for the year. It’s pretty easy to do. And it adds up.

Forget about the big lump sum. Investing can be painless if you do a little bit every month.

Start today.

$50 or $100 a month.

And no- I’m not being paid by Sharebuilder to write this post. (ha!)

I AM a sharebuilder customer however. Since 2000.