Investment Tip: Is Self Storage Really “Recession Proof”?

We’re currently experiencing the worst economic period since the Great Depression. Paul Krugman of the New York Times even called it the third depression this week. And it’s not just the United States. It’s global. Doomsday is almost every day on Wall Street. Like many Americans, I’ve watched my stock portfolio turn to mush the past few years. It almost makes more sense to just put my money in the bank and save that way. Of course, if I was real paranoid – and maybe I should be – I’d invest in a safe for my basement or have my dog dig me a hole in the backyard right next to his bone collection. I’m far from a Wall Street expert, but working in the storage industry, it’s starting to make more and more sense to invest in storage or somehow use storage to my advantage. Looking at our data, it’s clear the industry is still thriving, and the stock market reflects this as well. Ever since I joined the StorageFront team, I’ve started noticing just how many storage facilities are out there. As my brilliant colleague Mia documented, there are more storage facilities than Starbucks. I leave the office and see one before I even get a mile away. There is a huge facility a block from my house. Before I started working here, they were more like billboards. I drove by them every day, but I never really took the time to notice just how many there were. Some businesses are even looking to self storage to help save money. It might be illegal to live in a storage unit, but it’s not illegal to work out of one. Through smart business plans, smart advertising and all the everyday Joes accumulating an abundance of stuff, storage steers clear of the economic turmoil that most of us are experiencing. Maybe world leaders shouldn’t be attending the G20 summit; maybe they should be meeting with the self storage giants to figure out how they’re still thriving. I don’t know if storage is recession/depression-proof, but storage stock seems like a safe bet.