Investment Articles

As investors begin their shift away from currencies and into hard assets, gold has waltzed well past $1000 per ounce and has since pushed through $1100. Because precious metals have been long seen as an effective hedge against inflation, investors have been the biggest driver of demand.

The Gold to Silver Ratio

Throughout history, gold and silver have been tethered together in the eyes of investors. Once one of the metals moves too high or falls too low, investors are quick to switch their holdings from the relatively overpriced metal to the relatively under-priced metal. The current market conditions indicate that gold has become overpriced and silver has become underpriced, suggesting there will be a shift in assets from gold to silver.

The Magic Number

Since 1970, the ratio of the number of ounces of silver you could buy with one ounce of gold has run as high as 80:1 and as low as 20:1, with a mean of 54:1. Today’s ratio is moderately higher than 54:1; in fact, the ratio is nearing 64:1, suggesting that there will be a correction in either the price of gold, or silver will advance to make up the deficit. Since we know that inflation isn’t just on the horizon (it’s here today), the best bet is that silver will in fact rise, and gold will either continue or stay equally as valuable.

Silver’s Ascent Won’t Be Slow

In relation to gold, silver tends to make much larger percentage movements more frequently than gold, which is most likely due to its inexpensiveness and the volatile industries that demand so much of the metal each year. In addition, silver has a tendency to enter into short but strong periods of price strength and decay very slowly. This can be confirmed with any silver chart; each uptick period is short but strong, while the dips tend to happen very slowly.

Why You Should Buy Silver Now

The mixture of silver’s volatility and the shift in demand from gold to silver as an inflation hedge provide rationale for buying silver today, rather than waiting. As many have seen, when silver heads higher, it does so quickly and often without tell-tale signs of strength. Thus, to take advantage of any future climb in the value of silver, investors should be quick to buy now, rather than wait until after silver makes its next move.

Never a Better Time

There has never been a better time to latch onto silver as an investment. In the past decade, nearly all silver produced around the world was used up in industry. Therefore, while business and manufacturing outlets may be satisfied by current production, investors have been trading the same amount of silver as they have for more than ten years. Should gold investors switch to silver, they’ll be buying 64 times more ounces of silver than they had gold – all while silver becomes more and more scarce. Successful precious metals investing is not just about being right; it’s about being right first. Buy before the masses and watch your wealth grow as the rest of the world finds out there isn’t nearly as much silver as was once thought.

For a great way to get started now investing in silver coins, download our Free Guide

“It’s comin’ on Christmas they’re cuttin’ down trees…”

The opening line of Joni Mitchell’s song River reproduced here conjures up for me the true feeling of the season. It’s not a typical Christmas song but for me it evokes the true Christmas spirit, a time to look forward to and to share in the earth’s bounty.

Of course it also means the giving and receiving of gifts and that’s what I’d like to concentrate on, at least the giving part.

When you find yourself stuck for ideas why not take a leaf out of Bob’s book and use online investing to help share the joy of Christmas. Bob has a dilemma. He is unsatisfied with giving the usual presents to his family so decides this year to be a little more creative and put a real smile on his family’s face.

Firstly there are the two kids, Jack who is 18 and Ann who is 22. Like his sister before him Jack has just started a three year course at university and he is full of the promise it holds and is actively participating in the social life as well. One thing he isn’t thinking about is the student loan that he receives to see him through his course. This will leave him with a sizable debt when he graduates.

Ann, on the other hand has already graduated and with some careful budgeting and some part time work she has left University with a relatively manageable loan outstanding. The problem is the recession has severely curtailed any job opportunities and she is struggling to start the career in business that she was hoping to. This has prompted her to travel, so for the whole of next year she is off to follow the path taken by many others and see the world. When she returns hopefully the job market will be better. Then she might think about settling down and buying her first property.

So, how can Bob help? Looking at the investments he has he decides to invest $50 on behalf of each of them in a CashTanker account. This pays 2% a day and as the money won’t be needed straight away Bob opts for 100% compounding. The programme is due to close on December 25 2011 so assuming 220 business days a year and 440 days in total the return for each of his offspring would be over $300K. This should be more than enough to clear Jack’s student loan and also help Ann put a deposit down on a property, although secretly Bob hopes that Ann will just rent a property and use the funds to start her own business as they’ve discussed in the past (Bob’s wife, Judy is keener on the property purchase).

Bob and Judy have been married for 25 years and whilst Judy has not always had the faith in online investing that Bob has she suffers his ventures gladly hoping for a profitable outturn. Bob wants to thank Judy for all her support so decides that he will invest $50 in a Traded Endowment Policy with Imperia Invest. He knows these are available until 01 February 2010 and are scheduled to payout the $134,000 return in the middle of 2010. This would allow Judy to really spoil herself. With another $50 he decides to open an account at Sport Arbs. This has a variable return but is usually at least 2% a day minimum. As they trade 7 days a week the growth could be significant and will provide an nice nest egg for the future.

Lastly Bob has to think about his parents, Terry and Liz. They are both recently retired and whilst they have made reasonable allowance for their day to day living it’s unlikely their funds will provide them with a luxurious lifestyle. Bob appreciates all the sacrifices his parents have made over the years on his behalf and feels that he would like to provide enough funds to help them spoil themselves from time to time. Perhaps a meal at a top restaurant or the odd weekend away in a nice hotel. Looking at the opportunities available he feels that PTV Partner offer the ideal solution. He decides to invest $200 on behalf of his parents in their 40 day plan that pays 190% return. So, every 40 days they will receive $380. It will be easy for them to save up for the odd month or two so that they can easily afford those odd luxuries now and again.

As Bob sits back in his armchair he is pleased with his plans and knows that his family will definitely remember this Christmas for years to come.

Postscript: Of course we shouldn’t forget that any income received may be subject to tax so don’t forget that if you have similar plans to Bob. Take some advice from a good tax accountant.

For more great tips on online investing you can visit my blog at http://www.onlineinvestingguru.com

From John Murphy and Online Investing Guru

Dealing with numbers and making a sense of it can be a grueling task. Not to mention unnecessary since you already have a lot on your plate. With the ton of concerns that you need to deal with everyday, a headache computation is the last thing you need. The good news is you don’t have to tear yourself apart, just deal with placing your money on the right investment.

The present value annuity calculator is an online tool that helps you assess an investment by laying it on a series of payments that will be paid over a period of time. In addition, it calculates using today’s present dollar value so it will be easier for you to assess a particular investment’s worth. It can compute the numbers to determine the current worth, the expected value and the future worth of a financial investment.

Step 1: The first thing you need to do is to key in the numbers for the following items:

1. Annual payment or the dollar amount that is to be paid on a yearly basis
2. Annual interest rate or the percentage obtained from the annual payment, what is expected to be collected from the investment
3. Payment period or the number of years when the annuity is expected to be collected

Step 2: Go to the present value annuity calculator, a link is usually available to click on.

Step 3: Decide. Given the numbers, the present worth and an investments expected future worth, you are then equipped with the knowledge to decide where to put your money on.

Learn more about present value annuity, please visiting http://www.gsyywz.com/financial/present-value-annuity-calculator-how-easy/

The new investor can start investing small with a large selection of investment options to choose from. If you want to go it alone and save money, your best investment path will depend on how much freedom you want. Here are two low-cost ways to start investing on your own.

If you want to start investing the easy way with professional money managers making the specific investment decisions for you I recommend no-load mutual funds. You save money by not paying a sales charge or commission when you invest, and yearly expenses can be quite low. With a major fund family you have a wide variety of investment options. This is your best investment path if you want help with investment management.

If you want the freedom to invest in anything from real estate to individual stocks and bonds… gold and silver or oil and gas… even in mutual funds: open an account with a major discount broker. It will cost about $10 to make an investment on your computer and the same to sell it. You can buy or sell in seconds on any business day. The investment management is all up to you.

With a discount brokerage account the new investor will save money and have more investment options than ever before in history. Trust me, compared to the old days the new investor has it made today. It’s even easier to start investing than you think, thanks in part to stocks that are actually exchange traded funds (ETFs). Let me give you an example.

Let’s say that gold prices have your attention and you would like a piece of the action. You only want to invest about $1000, and want to be able to get in and out quickly in case things get dicey in the gold market. You can pour over the stats for various gold mining stocks in search of the best investment. Or you can simply buy shares in an ETF that invests in gold bullion and tracks the price of it… stock symbol GLD.

A few years ago I would have advised every new investor to invest in mutual funds. But for you more adventuresome types who want to play a more active role in your own investment management… open an account with a discount broker. You don’t need to trade stocks or otherwise speculate just because you have an account. Look into ETFs on your broker’s web site. These investment funds can make your investing life easier.

If you want to start investing on your own I suggest you start small if you pick your own investments in a brokerage account. For larger amounts, like IRA rollovers, I suggest no-load funds for the new investor. Or, try it both ways. But if you really want to make your money grow, do your homework along the way.

A retired financial planner, James Leitz has an MBA (finance) and 35 years of investing experience. For 20 years he advised individual investors, working directly with them helping them to reach their financial goals.

Jim is the author of a complete investor guide, Invest Informed, designed for average investors or would-be investors of all levels of financial background and experience. To learn more about investments and investing and his new financial guide go to http://www.investinformed.com.

Online investing has become one of the recent trends to which a lot of people are getting attracted. The traditional way of investing in stocks, real estate, and other investment schemes can also be done online thus helping you save time and money that can be used for other purposes. One of the types of investing that has been gaining a lot of popularity is the dollar based investing.

You will hardly find stocks round in number. In other words, not often you might have heard that $30 stock is available. However, you can stocks in the following manner i.e. not in whole number $13.45, $32.12 and $134.43. The cost of the shares is always the number of shares multiplied by its price. For example, if the price per share is $18.24 then you buy 20 shares for 20 x 18.24 = $364.8.

In dollar-based investing, the investor purchases the stock or different investments in a dollar amount you decide rather than purchasing in the multiples of stock price. If you think of investing $125 in a month, the amount of money you put does not usually purchase accurate whole number of shares. What you are doing is that you are purchasing $125 worth of shares. For instance, for a stock that is price of $18.25, your $125 will get you shares of a stock priced $6.85. What you can do is buy shares in fractions such as one quarter of a share.

Dollar-based investing can be a very good decision for an average investor who desires to spend consistent amount of money on long-term basis in the stock market. Most people do not have huge amount of money to invest at one go. However, the dollar-based investment allows one to invest spend in the stock market in small fractions.

The main reason is that very few people are able to save enough money that can be spent on buying stocks. By investing small amount at a time, one can easily save and invest simultaneously. It is also a wonderful way to learn about investing in the stock market.

Like other investment schemes, even this one has a drawback of the risk associated with it. Hence, you need to know the market trend properly and choose stocks wisely. Another way of earning handsome income regularly through your home or office computer is two tire affiliate marketing. You do not have to worry about the risk factor in this business but hold on to your horses well because you will have tough time managing the amount of money you have earned through it.

To learn more about making money online Click Here. Or to see how Troy Pryczek can mentor you to make money online, and to claim you’re FREE! Online Money Makers Boot Camp visit http://www.NewOnlineInvesting.com

Even though investments in real estate, stocks, bonds, etc help in earning good money, people are more interested in investing their money in precious metals. Why? The answer is pretty simple; investing in precious metals gives them much wanted security over any other type of investment. One can invest in precious metals online as well thereby reducing the stress value and save on time.

One should also keep in mind that like other investment schemes even investing in precious metals does not assure you that is the safest investment option. Commodities like gold and silver have been used as a form of currency since thousands of years and it goes without saying that in the future also its value is surely going to be worth investing and earning profits.

The past few years have seen a steep rise in the interest of the people who are increasingly investing in precious metals. The requirement of silver is increasing day by day. As the technology industry is advancing with production of new computers and cell phones which require silver in its manufacturing process, one can easily understand how silver’s value is going to rise soon. Hence, more and more investors are wisely investing their money in silver.

Even though recession and bad economy has severely affected our lives, people have now become smarter in handling their finances and doing investments. Investing on stocks of big companies is also not looking as safe bet and investors are always worried about suffering from loss. Hence, now we should be sensible in our investments and think about future as to what we should do to make sure that our investments don’t go kaput.

Many people have wrong inclination that investing in precious metals is only meant for rich people. If you are financially independent and hope to remain safe when another economy crisis strikes in the future, think wise and start investing on precious metals. Hence, people belonging to the middle class category or the ones who do not even make it the middle class category can start off by putting money in high value coins.

As I said before, like other modes of investment even investing in precious metals does not guarantee you freedom from risk. One of the safest ways of making online is two tier affiliate marketing that involves no risk at all. Selling products and services of an online company through website will help you earn money on commission basis plus you can also earn money through the sales that other sub-affiliates make when they join the program under you.

To learn more about making money online Click Here. Or to see how Troy Pryczek can mentor you to make money online, and to claim you’re FREE! Online Money Makers Boot Camp visit http://www.NewOnlineInvesting.com

If you are just beginning in online investing should you take advantage of a programme that offers a very low $5 initial deposit. Just to be clear here I am focusing on online investing programmes that are based on a passive investment approach i.e. you make an investment on the basis of the programme paying a fixed or variable rate of interest per day or week.

With such a low entry point are the online investments being realistic about their offer? Well in one sense I think you can say they are. As many people distrust these forms of investment, companies need to come up with ways to allow people to try what is on offer at little risk. One way to do this is to set the entry point low and assuming things perform as planned the investor would be persuaded and therefore happy to invest more. So as a marketing ploy this approach could be considered acceptable.

For the more cynical observer there could be a view that the programme is going out to attract as much cash as possible before heading off into the sunset. Personally I find this rather short sighted, of course some programmes do fail but as long as a potential investor does their homework it should be possible to root out the bad apples fairly easily before parting with funds.

Practicalities can get in the way

More importantly perhaps is the practicality for beginners to realistically fund a programme with say a $5 investment. Unfortunately you can’t just walk into the nearest branch, put your $5 on the counter and walk out with a receipt. In practice there are a number of hurdles to jump before your investment can start earning.

In a companion article, Online Investing For Beginners and the Tortuous Route For Deposits and Withdrawals, I describe some of the companies that you need to have accounts with when funding an online investment but I didn’t delve into the costs involved. Let’s take a closer look at just what sort of fees you could encounter. I can’t be precise here but the figures I’m presenting are typical and should be considered when investing in any online programme. I’ll use US$ for comparison purposes (I’m making the assumption that bank wires aren’t an option as they generally require quite a high level of investment to be used).

In most cases your funds would need to leave your account and go to an e-currency exchanger. There is generally a minimum fee attached to any transaction which is normally in the region of $25. If you are converting funds from another currency you will also be penalised on the exchange rate (this can be fairly significant). As the funds go from the e-currency account to the payment processor there may also be a charge from the payment processor for receipt of the funds. You wouldn’t normally be charged any fee for making the investment to the online programme itself. In summary you are therefore looking at a minimum of $25 and perhaps a maximum of $30 to $40 to get your investment started. Clearly for a $5 investment this doesn’t make a lot of sense.

What is realistic?

So, as a beginner how much should you consider as a starting amount to invest? In reality I believe you have to consider $100 as an absolute minimum given the charges involved and how long it would take to not only recoup your seed money but the associated charges as well.

The $5 option is more suitable for those who already have payment processor accounts and receive interest from their existing investments.

For more great tips on online investing you can visit my blog at http://www.onlineinvestingguru.com
From John Murphy and Online Investing Guru

Product charges in the financial industry have always been a topic of much debate. After all purchasing personal financial products is not that same as almost any other product where you would expect to have the price clearly labelled. Typically a financial product is purchased through an intermediary such as a financial adviser, an online service or if you really have to then a bank. These intermediaries will often take a commission that is paid by the product provider, as remuneration for the sale.

In order to fund this commission payment to the intermediary the product provider will charge you an initial commission when you first purchase the product. This will fund the intermediary’s payment as well as the product provider’s cut.

If you purchase the product directly from the provider e.g. a personal pension or ISA from Legal & General, life insurance from Friends Provident or a unit trust from Aberdeen, then that product provider will not, as you might expect, charge a lower initial commission because you cut out the middle man. Instead they will simply keep a larger share, well, all of it, for themselves.

This is the reason why discount brokers are a cheaper alternative to purchasing financial products through either a financial adviser or going directly to the product provider. This is because discount brokers take the full commission the product provider will pay them and rebate some or all of that commission back to you. This way you are minimising the commission that the product provider gets to keep and earning yourself a good deal.

What’s more if you purchase a financial product through an intermediary then you have the right to approach the Financial Ombudsman if in the future you feel something was not right about the product or the way in which it was sold to you. If you purchase a product directly through a provider then you have no rights to complain as the purchase was made by you without any assistance from a third party.

Jaskarn Pawar,
Director, Investor Profile Ltd

Click on http://www.investorprofile.co.uk to find out about our free Easy Viewer Portfolio service.

Someone’s investor profile can incorporate many different aspects of their lifestyle. These can include a person’s personality, family, finances, future goals, past experiences and knowledge of investing.

An investor profile can be defined as a general attitude towards investing. It relates to the types of investments that would best suit an individual based on how they would react to variations in the returns that these would provide. The returns can include both income and capital gains.

So it is quite an all encompassing definition but can be established quite quickly with a few key bits of information and some focused questions designed to understand how you might react to different circumstances towards your investments.

When trying to establish your own investor profile it is firstly important to get a good understanding of your own situation. This can include all manner of personal and financial information as described above. At this point you are really trying to establish what sort of life stage you are in, what your responsibilities are towards yourself and others and how this affects your financial choices. Then you want to tally up what you have in the way of assets and how these are currently invested.

This will give you a good picture of who you are, how you have been with money to date, and perhaps how you will need to be with money in the future.

You then want to put yourself in different investment scenarios and think about how you might react. Say you’ve invested £10,000 and a year later this is worth £8,000. How would you react? Some people might want to sell and cut their losses. Some people might want to buy more because the price is low. Some people might be relaxed knowing they have invested for the long term and that short term values really don’t matter. Different people react in different ways.

Think about the risk and reward trade-off. That is, are you happy to take high risk knowing that there could be a high potential reward, but also knowing short term values could be very volatile? Or would you be happier in lower risk funds knowing that the return is likely to be lower but more predictable, with no crazy highs and lows from year to year?

All of these considerations will go in to helping you understand what your own investor profile is and how best you could invest your money so that you can sleep at night safe in the knowledge that you have made the right choices.

Please note: the above information does not constitute a personal recommendation.

Jaskarn Pawar, Director, Investor Profile Ltd

Click on http://www.investorprofile.co.uk to find out about our free Easy Viewer Portfolio service.

It’s been about twelve months since the world’s banking system went into meltdown. You’d think that the banks who were helped out would be still licking their wounds and trying to stay under the radar to avoid bad publicity.

But that doesn’t seem to be the reality. As it happens, for some banks and financial institutions the last twelve months have been very profitable and headlines are again pointing the finger at huge bonuses for bank employees whilst the man in the street still struggles.

Is it any surprise then that when I see a television advert here in the UK proudly proclaiming that if I would hand over a mere £10,000 the bank would deign to give me 4.2% per annum return on my investment that I say some rather choice words under my breath?

Do they really think that we are that stupid to believe that such a paltry return is all that we deserve? Personally I feel totally dumbfounded, so it’s no surprise I spent many of the last few years searching for returns that are more acceptable.

The question now of course is what return should we consider acceptable. Rather than go into a whole lot of debate about this let me pin my colours to the mast and say that a return of 5% a week is not unreasonable.

In fact it may be more than this but I don’t believe much more than this is sustainable for the long run. How do I know this is possible? Well, the answer is very easy as there are several programmes that have been paying these sorts of returns for many years and they have the ability to continue at this level for the foreseeable future.

I’ll admit these programmes aren’t quite as convenient as your local bank but the little extra time needed in getting an account is paid back many times over by the increased returns.

Now I’m not suggesting that you put all your money in these types of account, that would be irresponsible and potentially financially dangerous. What I am saying is that this type of investment should be part of a balanced portfolio bearing in mind the additional risks that they carry.

For more great tips on online investing you can visit my blog at http://www.onlineinvestingguru.com From John Murphy and Online Investing Guru