Is it an Investment?

We often hear people talking about their newest investments. These range from gold to houses to automobiles, and beyond. The other day I had a brother-in-law tell me his new camelback was one of the best investments he has made. A friend told me, as he was moving into his new home, that he thought he would invest in cable t.v. While I agree that a camelback is a great tool to have while riding, hiking, etc.. my understanding is that neither of these are investments. In fact my brain tells me that cable is more than just not an investment, but that it is a WASTE of money.

So the question is, what is a an investment?
According to Wikipedia it "is the active redirection of resources/assets to creating benefits in the future; the use of resources/assets to earn income or profit in the future."
A popular website says: "in general terms, investment means the use of money in hopes of making more money."
Clearly camelbacks and cable are out.

What would be considered YOUR biggest investment? Your house you say? WRONG!! Lets play with some numbers. You payed $170,000 for this "investment" and in 5 years you are going to sel it for $200,000. Way to go! you made $30k right? wrong again. lets say you got a great rate at 5% on you loan. your payment is just over $912/month (not counting taxes and insurance) you lived there 60 months. you paid $54,720 to earn your profit of $30,000. Sure you may have paid of a few thousand during the 5 years so you make more like $36k, but you still paid $19k more than that to live there!! A home in not an investment if you live in it. -unless of course, you paid with cash...
I once spent $4,500 on an "investment" in the form of a 900rr Bullet bike powered sandrail. Why was this an investnment? Because the value was much closer to the $10,000 range! If I had not broken the self imposed "don't ride the investment" rule, which is about the same as living in your "investment", then the motor would not have been sucked full of sand and I could have sold it. Instead I ended up with a broken $4500 piece of metal :{

Lets talk about a winning "investment". I purchased a 4runner a while ago. (but wait Brian, you said automobiles were not an investment?) -good you listened- I paid $150 for this non running car. I made it run, and sold it for $550. profiting $400. I then bought a broken jeep for $330, made it run, sold the tires for $400, bought tires for $50, and kept the jeep (for now). in total I turned $150 into a running Jeep (worth about $1,000), and $420 in cash. that's a 940% return!