We believe that the very best retirement funding opportunity today- for most people -lies in producing wild-simulated American Ginseng for sale to the Asian markets.

The reasons are simple: we know of no other business where so many people, without special qualification or abilities can invest modest sums of money and time with the reasonable expectation of generating significant income and equity within a timeframe of 10 to 12 years.

• We define modest sums of money as anything from $5,000 to $75,000.
• We define modest sums of time as less than 10 hour per week.

The business of growing ginseng is not like "emu ranching" or other pie-in-the-sky startup businesses, and it isn't a business where only a small percentage of the entrants will make a lot of money. This is a business that will generously reward just about anyone who gives it a good-faith effort.

Two Points:

This is not a "get rich quick" scheme. It takes many years to maximize your investment, and a grower shouldn't expect to see any income at all for at least 6 years. This business is better suited for individuals who are settled down or have the capacity to settle down in one place for a decade or more.

This business is not for everyone, if for no other reason than the issue of appropriate habitat. Ginseng does not grow in the warmer portions of the US (See the Plant Heat Zones map at the American Horticultural Society http://www.ahs.org/pdfs/heatmap.pdf   Zones 3-8 are appropriate for growing ginseng) and it requires deciduous forest canopy with 75% to 80% shade to grow. These habitat requirements tend to be the most limiting factors of ginseng horticulture.

Wild simulated ginseng is the same thing as wild ginseng: the only thing you'll do is ensure optimum soil conditions and plant the seeds. Otherwise, you leave it alone and let it grow. There is no selling involved and the only expenses (other than capital expenditures like building fences) are soil supplements and property taxes. Planting the seed is work, and it takes time. With the right tools, you can plant an acre a week without any problem, by yourself.

For the first several years, there's nothing to do other than make occasional observations and soil tests, amending the soil as necessary. We're not talking about throwing fertilizer on it: Ginseng requires an acid soil, high calcium and moderate phosphorus levels. We also advocate the use of a trace mineral supplement. A dose of standard NPK fertilizer will do more to destroy the value of the ginseng than anything else.

Growing wild simulated ginseng is similar to keeping an orchard: Ginseng seed is planted in the fall, and 4 to 5 years later the plants will start to produce seed. The seed is valued in a range from $40 to $70 per pound, and following our instruction, you should see 100 pounds of seed produced per acre. Ginseng seed is very fragile. It has to be kept within a narrow range of temperature and moisture for 18 months, after which time it will sprout. If it dries out, it dies.

Have you ever planted a garden? You probably already have all the skills necessary for growing ginseng

At about 10 to 12 years, the ginseng roots are old and large enough to be worth premium prices, although the longer the roots are growing in the ground the more valuable they become. Planting an acre of ginseng the year a child is born will provide 18 to 20 year old roots to pay for their college education, and about the time they're old enough to be able to work for some spending money you can put them to work picking the berries in the fall. Ginseng is not only a great way to prepare for retirement, but it's also a great way to pay for a child's education- but you have to start early.

Any time the ginseng operation needs to be liquidated, simply dig the ginseng out of the ground and dry and sell the roots. After 10 years, the yield from a single acre will be somewhere between 200 and 300 pounds of dried ginseng root. Current prices are over $400 per pound in the U.S., and much higher in Asia.

You can plant 10 or more acres of wild simulated ginseng with the reasonable expectation that the farm will not make any money for the first 5 years. After that, seed sales should generate some level of income each year. If liquidation is planned, expect to get a final yield of $100k or better per acre after 10 to 12 years of growth.

The "secret" of growing wild (simulated) ginseng is to carefully select the best location possible for growing it, plant it correctly, ensure the correct soil conditions and then monitor it until it's ready to dig up. Remember that the only "cultivation" done to wild simulated ginseng is amending the soil and planting the seed. After that, nature takes its course. We have a growers manual in the download area that will be of great help if you want to learn more, as well as dozens of articles on the finer points of growing ginseng. You can subscribe now for immediate access.

Why Is Wild Ginseng So Valuable?

The reason wild ginseng is so valuable has more to do with the history of China than any other factor. Ginseng has been a staple of Chinese Herbal Medicine for thousands of years. John Jacob Astor got his start by sending a ship filled with ginseng to China back in the 1760's. The ship came back loaded with silver. China has always been the major market for ginseng and the only difference between then and now is the number of people who want it has gone way up and the amount of money they have to spend on it has also dramatically increased.

Old, wild, gnarly-looking ginseng roots are thought to possess far more beneficial effect than cultivated ginseng, and consequently the roots command a much higher price. The older and bigger the root, the higher the price it commands, and a "man-root" that bears a resemblance to the human figure will bring an unbelievable price in China.

The Chinese are currently self-sufficient in the production of cultivated ginseng. However, they do not have the ability to produce wild ginseng, and won't be able to for the foreseeable future. The biggest reason they don't have the ability is because in much of the country, the deciduous forests have been cut down for firewood.

Sell Pearls, Not Pork

"Everybody argues about the price of pork, but nobody argues about the price of pearls."

There are three grades of ginseng: field cultivated ginseng, woods-grown ginseng and wild (simulated) ginseng. Of the three, wild ginseng commands the highest price. It's a simple supply and demand situation: the supply of wild ginseng is falling (it's endangered) and the demand for wild ginseng is rising. The beauty of growing wild simulated ginseng is simple: you're producing the premium product for the Chinese market, the supply is falling, the demand is rising and the Chinese can't compete. Neither can the Indians. What could be better than that?

Actually, it gets a lot better, because this isn't just about making money but about hanging on to it as well.

The top three habits of millionaires (from the book "The Millionaire Next Door") are these:

1. They live well below their means.
2. They allocate their time, energy and money efficiently, in ways conducive to building wealth.
3. They believe their financial independence is more important than displaying high social status.

The authors looked at becoming a millionaire in terms of sports, with making money being the "offense" and being frugal and controlling spending being the "defense" portions of the game. They made constant comparisons to people who had a great offense and earned very high salaries, but they didn't have a defense, so they spent it as fast as they made it and didn't become wealthy. There were also examples of millionaires who didn't have a high income: they made it up through the ranks by having a great defense.

This tells us that the most important part of becoming wealthy is developing a good defense.

Growing ginseng puts you into an environment where it's easy to develop a good defense. By definition, you don't grow ginseng in affluent neighborhoods. There is no need to keep up with the Jones or anyone else when you live in a rural area. In fact, living in an affluent area was cited as being one of the most serious impediments to becoming wealthy: there is social pressure to be like your neighbors, to spend like your neighbors.

We've been in trendy neighborhoods. All the luxuries available only a short distance away… You can have almost anything you want delivered with just a phone call at any time, day or night. The stores carry a mind-boggling variety of variety of high-quality products, and it's possible to get almost anything you want immediately.

The lifestyle we advocate involves being frugal and fairly self sufficient. For a much lower cost of living, you give up your access to consumer heaven. It's possible to grow a garden and can a lot of food, which cuts your food bill. It's possible to raise chickens, which provide meat and eggs. It's possible to cut your own firewood in the winter and store it for use the following winter, at which time it can be used or sold for a nice profit. These are facets of a lifestyle that will help you live well on very little income, but they're also things you can't do in an upscale neighborhood.

There are hidden benefits as well. You can get a place with a million-dollar-view for only a few thousand dollars in Kentucky or Tennessee. In many places you can purchase a home for far less than it would cost to build it. This is the effect of out-migration and a declining population. We also realize that people don't like to take what they view as a step down in life. Our view is that taking the plunge on growing ginseng is a lateral move that has a great long-term pay-off.

When it comes to quality of life issues, this lifestyle easily trumps the rat race. Making forecasts as to future trends, do you think problems with crime and cost of living will get better or worse? Do you think that you'd be better off in an area with less government or more government? Would you rather live in an area where you've got a low population density and less traffic, or a high population and the corresponding traffic it generates? We could keep going with these questions, but you get the drift.

Growing ginseng is probably the ideal family business, because once the money starts rolling in it can easily be run as a continuous production operation with a multi-generational business plan. This requires obtaining a larger quantity of land and planting several acres every year, but once the farm starts producing income the parents can turn the management (work) of the farm over to the children and grandchildren. With the knowledge they gain working on the farm, the children or grandchildren could replicate the operation in other areas if they desired.

We discuss all this at length, in many articles here at BulletProof Retirement. Growing ginseng is absolutely the ultimate retirement business to get into- especially if you want to have a bulletproof retirement.

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