Investment Articles

Investing in the stock market, in options, in foreign currency, in commodities, or in other financial instruments will only be successful if you do technical analysis and fundamental analysis and when you have a trading strategy that incorporates risk and portfolio management. To be successful in investing money, you must understand the psychology of investing. One aspect of this is to understand the negative personality traits that investors have – these traits prevent investors from succeeding in their investments.

Tape watchers

A tape watcher is a person who sits all day looking at live data. If you are a tape watcher, whenever the price of the stock you have invested in is up, you will think you have make a good investment, and vice versa. This makes tape watching an emotional experience. You should set your stop losses and you should take the time to do research or to do other constructive things.

The uncertain

Some people are always unsure about the decisions they make. This is a bad trait because they are not able to take risks and since the greater the risk the greater the reward, uncertain people will not succeed as investors. If you are not sure about your investment decision, you should do fundamental and technical analysis and then you should trust your intuition.

Roller coaster riders

Roller coaster riders are people who buy and sell when others are buying and selling. This is not prudent because sometimes the market is driven by external factors that are not related to the actual value of the stock they have invested in. You should be able to filter the noise and to make decisions based on sound judgment.

The backward thinkers

Some investors are backward thinkers. They do not use analysis tools such as trading calculators and volatility data and they do not have access to live data. Avoid being a backward thinker by taking courses on how to invest in whatever you are investing in.

The stupidity

Some people make very stupid investment decisions. These people buy a stock just for the sake of buying or for emotional reasons. They also buy without doing any analysis and they will sell when the prices are low and buy when they are high. Such an investor should find something else to do.

Marcus is dedicated to providing financial education that helps individuals create wealth for themselves and their families.

Marcus is the author of the book, ‘Wealth Workout – the Simple Seven Step Formula for Financial Success’, and the contributor to various money, finance, stock market and property publications in UK. For more information on how to make more money and to get a wealth workout please click here wealth-workout.

What is a tax free bond, and how can you invest in such a thing? A tax-free bond invests in municipal bonds. It is a debt security issued by the state or local government. They pose as good investments since they don’t attract tax. They also attract very high interest on their value. How you can invest in tax free bonds is based on a number of factors; most important of all, your knowledge about these bonds.

There are two attractive tax-free bonds in the market namely; the general obligation and revenue bonds. General obligation bonds are state securities meant for raising money for projects like community development, schools, sewers etc. The General Obligation tax free bond is considered as safer in comparison to the Revenue Bond. On the other hand, the Revenue Bond is issued by a state or local government company. Both are available in the market. The interest on your investment comes from the business profits of the issuer.

Deciding on what to invest on can be challenging. However, if you are an average investor with some experience in the market, you can determine what the ideal bonds to buy through equivalent yield formula.

You may want to invest heavily; the tax free bonds provide you with insulation against heavy tax on your investment. There are two thumb rules in the market

• Study the yield potential of the bond you want to invest in, this provides an overview of the benefits.
• Invest objectively; the value of these bonds is high, as such it’s ideal to invest high enough money to earn high yields unlike when you invest small amounts.

Investing in tax free bonds promises you, as an investor, very good yields on your initial investment. You can choose to invest in either the general obligation or the revenue bond. Each provides an attractive interest on your initial investment. Learning how to project possible earnings is done using the equivalent yield formula. If you have little knowledge about bonds, it’s ideal you study books about investing in this topic.

Charles E. Johnson is an entrepreneur and the current owner of Articleportfolio.com. For more information on the bond market and investing in bonds, visit the Articleportfolio.com bonds page here: http://www.articleportfolio.com/buying-bonds.html.

As a bond investor, one must thoroughly understand interest rates, the most basic feature of bonds. The value of a bond investment is very much dependent on today’s interest-rate environment and the potential future interest-rate moves.

Coupon Rate

Bonds as fixed income securities pay a set coupon rate, the rate used to calculate periodic interest payments on an issue. Two things affect the coupon rate: the issuer’s credit quality and the issue’s duration. In general, the better the credit quality and the shorter the duration, the lower the interest rate, and vice versa.

Yield

Unlike a coupon rate that stays constant, the actual yield(to maturity) on a bond fluctuates as the result of the changing supply and demand in the trading, any changes in current interest rates, as well as in the perception of future interest-rate moves. For an investor, the yield is the coupon payments relative to the purchase price of the bond, which changes over time for the same above-mentioned reasons. And a bond yield moves in opposite direction to the price.

As interest rates have come down so much in the last couple of years, bond prices have risen accordingly and that has been good for investors. But the question now is that if interest rates can’t drop much lower from today’s historical low, what would that bode for investors, especially when inflation expectation starts setting in? One has to think about possible dropping in bond values down the road.

Interest Rate Sensitivity: Short Term vs. Long Term

Investors care a lot about how much their bond holdings are sensitive to any interest-rate change, because moves in interest rates will be reflected in the changing of the bond prices, thus the value of their holdings. In a rate-tightening environment or a would-be one, longer-term bonds are more sensitive to rate increases. This is because such a potential bond holder would be locked up for too long at a lower coupon rate.

Now the investor would be unable to earn any ongoing higher rates, and thus would demand a higher yield by paying less when purchasing the bond, effectively driving down longer-term bond prices. Should there be a future tightening and should the tightening become progressive as the current economic recovery continues moving forward, there could very well be losses of value on longer-term bonds.

On the other hand, shorter-term bonds would be less influenced by upward moves in rates in terms of investors demanding a higher yield and thus there wouldn’t be much downward pressure on shorter-term bond prices. In fact, as investors contemplate whether interest rates will really go up, they would like to get into shorter-term bonds for the flexibility that shorter durations offer, potentially driving up shorter-term bond prices and delivering better returns for those shorter-term bond holders.

Investing in bonds is a lot about evaluating current interest rate environment and anticipating future interest rate moves.

Charles E. Johnson is an entrepreneur and the current owner of Articleportfolio.com. For more information on the bond market and investing in bonds, visit the Articleportfolio.com bonds page here: http://www.articleportfolio.com/buying-bonds.html.

In these hard economic times, bonds are a good option for saving money.There are different types of bonds, but the most common is a traditional savings bond. Most banks and other financial institutions offer this as a financial option. Normally you can buy a bond at a certain price and then let it double in it’s amount overtime, earning interest. Bonds are considered a form of debt security. Underwriting is the most common practice for issuing bonds. This is where one or more financial institutions form a syndicate, buy an entire issue of bonds from an issuer and then resell them to investors. There are a few things about bonds that are not always known by most people, mentioned below.

The first of them is that the interest rate that the issuer ends up paying to the bond holders is called the coupon. This is most often times a fixed rate that lasts the entire term life of the bond. Although the term can be set for any amount of years, it is most commonly set at a term of thirty years. The reason that the term coupon was used here is because coupons were in fact attached to physical bonds that were issued in the past.

The next thing about bonds to know is the maturity date. The maturity date is the actual date on which the issuer has to repay the nominal amount. The length of time until the maturity date is reached is often called the term of the bond.

The last thing to be aware of when dealing with bonds is the indenture. The indenture establishes the terms of a bond issue in a formal debt agreement. This is a technical explanation of the bond.Bonds are both good options to look into when looking at ways to invest money smartly in a struggling economy. Research all options and decide what is right for whatever budget or life situation you might be in.

Charles E. Johnson is an entrepreneur and the current owner of Articleportfolio.com. For more information on the bond market and investing in bonds, visit the Articleportfolio.com bonds page here: http://www.articleportfolio.com/buying-bonds.html.

In business school I had little direction; nor did I learn how to invest. In graduate school (MBA,finance) my financial education did not include how to invest in the real world. In training to be a stock broker the focus was on selling, not investing. You learn how to invest on your own. You’ll never regret the time and effort it takes to get yourself up to speed.

If you don’t know how to invest you’re not the Lone Ranger. Few people today have a real down-to-earth financial education, yet they invest anyway in IRAs, 401k plans and on the internet. Last decade millions of Americans lost trillions of dollars investing. In the heat of the financial crisis our national leaders displayed both discomfort and financial incompetence dealing with our economic problems. Is the financial system now fixed, or are we due to revisit the crisis?

Financial education is rarely included in our educational system; in part because there would be a shortage of qualified teachers. For now, your best shot at getting up to speed is probably self study, with some guidance. In case you’ve never really given it serious consideration, here’s why you need at least a familiarity with the world of finance and investing.

The gravy train is over. Millions of Americans nearing or in retirement today have it made due to employer pensions and other benefits, including Social Security. If you missed the train or you’re not close to retirement age, one thing appears obvious to even the most casual observer. Neither your employer nor the government can afford to take care of you in the future. They are both busy getting their own financial house in order. You should get busy too. For example…

The economy is on the skids and you fear for your job. It’s one thing if you have funds set aside to last you a year or so, it’s quite another if you don’t. Or, you’re thinking of changing occupations and going back to school so you can get a better job. Same story. Or, you had set aside money in IRA and 401k plans for years so you could retire at age 60 and not worry about money. Then you lost half of it in 2000-2003, and again in 2008; leaving you no other choice except to keep on working if you can keep your job.

When you are going through bad times in your personal life, the last thing you need is to find out that you’ve taken a large loss in your retirement plan as well. That’s why I strongly suggest that there is a financial solution that can help in situations like those above, and improve your quality of life. Give yourself a financial education and do what you can to learn how to invest. Money will not necessarily make a miserable person happy – but a lack of it won’t even come close.

Read more investing articles, I say. At least you’re on the right track.

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.

Everyone has heard about a friend of a friend who knew a guy that had a sister who got involved with a company just before they went public, made a small seed investment and when the company went public she made millions.

Real Pre – Public investments in companies that are built to last with solid executive management and board of directors all wrapped in a industry that can still flourish in a recession are extremely difficult to find and impossible to be part of unless you are ‘in the know’, meaning you are the auditing or contract attorney for the company filing with the SEC, the accounting firm doing the third party audit, the consulting firm who is putting together the corporate strategies for the company or the investor relations industry that is gearing up for the publicity and promotions campaign to run in a post offering environment.

Typically the invitation to invest in a pre-public company comes in the form of a Direct Public Offering after the company is divided into shares with a private placement memorandum and before the third party audit and before and during the comments stage of the S1 filing. If you are fortunate enough to invest in a company with the above description you will most likely being offered deeply discounted stock (cheaper than what will be offered in the public market) which means you will (if the offering goes as planned) increase your initial investment amount by 200+ percent.

This is not at all a rare instance. Getting invited to invest in the pre-public, seed capital stage is actually quite simple if you know who to talk to. The best companies to become aligned with are ‘go public’ facilitation consultants and corporate turnaround consultants. These groups take companies public for a living and can usually plug you right in when the company is qualifying with the SEC and needs to have 40 investors on the book to qualify to go public (on the OTCBB). Simply contact the company and they will typically give you a quick information form to fill out to collect your name, phone, investment history and investment threshold.

It’s a fact, once you started investing in solid pre-IPO stock investments, you will dump your broker and never buy stock the traditional way again. Now get out there and experience the power of seed capital investment!

Are you an investor that wants to feel the power of a Pre IPO investment first hand? Are you interested in investing in up and coming technology companies, alternative energy companies with massive contracts to fill, Chinese companies with incredible capabilities that are now expanding to the US public marketplace? Then you need to start getting emails from Princeton Corporate Solutions. Get updates on the latest IPO’s a few months or even weeks before they go public. Click Here to get more information: http://spreadsheets.google.com/viewform?formkey=dEl2aEhJLXZIYmhfbUp6VWVqTURnUmc6MA

Gold has been a part of the economical system for ages. It is a fact that gold plays an important part in a stable economic system of any country and it can also be used in various industries. People have been attracted to this metal since its discovery. Gold is in fact a good investment and there are few substances that can compete with it as a better investment.

Gold cannot be destroyed nor can it be created artificially. History shows that scientist did try to create it, but failed to do so. There is a famous saying that describes gold beautifully, “All that glitters is not gold.” There is no other substance or metal that can compare with it. It has its own lustre and beauty.

Investors consider gold as a good long-term investment because it is worth a lot whether you have it in liquid or solid form. It is a steady investment. There are many investors out there who want to invest in gold because history shows that it is more secure than other investments over the years.

Today, we can easily draw examples from anywhere around the globe to highlight the significance of gold. It has been stated that when gold was assigned a universal value, it was agreed by the whole world that gold can be used as an alternative to currencies. Nowadays, we all know that gold can backup our paper money.

People invest in many ways like in business, property, prize bonds, etc, but there are many who prefer investing in gold because it is worth a fundamental value. This is because when there depreciation in the currency of a country, people bears big losses in other investments, but investors of gold does not face depreciation. Gold is worth an international value and it can be traded anytime anywhere in the world.

Gold is very attractive to women. It is not only used in jewellery, but it is also being used in embroidery and made into thread. Women also prefer gold as a better investment over gem jewellery or silver. Gold is also used as a gift for the very near and dear ones. It shows how much you value them or how much they value in your life.

To minimise the risk of a financial crises people in continents like Europe, USA and Asia are rushing towards gold investments. So watching the economical trends, we can say that the value of gold coins is still going to get higher. Economic crises have hit everything so badly these days, but there is very less attack on the value of gold. So investors consider it wise to invest in gold.

If there comes a very bad financial crises then gold can be used instead of paper money to trade and you would always get the better end of the deal. Gold is a good companion to help you out during hard times when every thing else looses its value.

Learn how to buy gold in the times of recession for future investment by taking help of professional.

Corporate bonds are issued by both public and private companies. When an investor purchases a this type of bond, in effect, the investor is lending money to the company. Companies use this money to purchase necessary items or pursue business expansion. In return for investors investing money, the company pays investors a predetermined rate of interest. On the date that the bond matures, the company gives the investor the money back plus interest. Some of the benefits of this type of investment include the following.

Excellent Yields

Corporate bonds often offer much higher yields than other types of bonds. Granted, there are also higher risks. The higher level of risk is definitely something that the investor must take into account. However, if the investor can tolerate more risk, they can be an excellent investment opportunity.

Steady Income and Ease of Knowing Risk

If you seek income that is steady and if you are interested in preserving the principal, these company bonds offer a good opportunity to do that. Also, they are usually rated based on the credit history of the company and the company’s ability to repay its obligations. The higher the rating, the safer a corporate bond is likely to be. It is an easy matter for investors to know how high a rating is. Thus, in this way, an investor can know exactly how much risk he or she is taking during the investment process.

Diversity of Investment

Those interested in investing in corporate bonds can choose to invest in various sectors. The investor need not limit himself or herself to one investment sector. This is helpful because diversification can be a good way to reduce the risk of investing in this type of bonds.

Liquidity

In the event that an investor decides to sell a bond before it matures, the investor can usually sell the bond quickly because of the large size and liquidity of the corporate bond market. The fact that an investor can sell quickly makes it comparatively safer to purchase corporate bonds. This makes corporate bonds a good investment opportunity.

Charles E. Johnson is an entrepreneur and the current owner of Articleportfolio.com. For more information on the bond market and investing in bonds, visit the Articleportfolio.com bonds page here: http://www.articleportfolio.com/buying-bonds.html.

Most days I’m on my soapbox about the lousy advice the so many “financial advisors” give their clients. But I’ve decided to do something different today. Maybe it’s the end of the filibuster proof democratic majority that has me in a good mood (Be sure to check out my article on Ending Government Overreach here). Maybe it’s the warmer weather this week after spending last week in Michigan. Whatever it is, I want to say thank you to all of those other financial advisors whose advice I find, well…questionable, no that’s not it, uhm… worthless, no, not that either…

Even bad investment advice has some redeeming value. A man I know owned and then sold his company for millions of dollars in the go-go days. Since that time he has been on a quest for the ideal investment and writes about his experiences. Yesterday, he had identified an expert who said that “now is the time to buy bonds”. Seems foolish to me because government interest rates are at zero, there is concern about inflation, and the way to stop inflation will be to increase interest rates. When this happens, it’s very bad for bonds. But I listened to the advice anyway and…

I looked at the bonds in our portfolios and discovered that the bonds I have maturing in the next five years are priced significantly above maturity value – I bought them at a discount to maturity value before the crash – so we’ve been receiving interest all along.

Thinking it through like this:

I bought them at a discount then, And today in the face of short term maturity and rising interest rates,
I can sell them at a premium (a premium which will disappear as they approach the maturity date).

So I did – sell them. See, even bad advice has redeeming value. So thank you very much Mr. so and so for your advice to buy bonds.

I’d also like to thank all of the “advisors” who counseled their people to buy stock on margin in 2005 through 2008. This advice proved very profitable, because all of those folks who had to sell their stock when prices fell, pushed stocks even further down in November 2008 and March 2009 and with cash we were able to buy great companies at ridiculously low prices in those months and the ones in between. You’d be amazed at what they have done since!

And finally, I would like to thank all the “advisors” who recommend asset allocation to their clients. Every time you sell a sector of stocks, we benefit because we are able to buy plum companies in unpopular sectors for a fraction of what the company is worth. You’d be surprised how this turbo charges investment returns with far less risk.

OK. So perhaps sarcasm isn’t your thing – most of time it isn’t mine either. But like a doctor whose reputation is harmed by the snake oil salesman, I don’t like it when investors are harmed because some “advisor” tells them dumb stuff. Every once in a while blowing off a little steam in this way, well, what the heck!

Dana Barfield invites you to visit his retirement home page http://www.retirementwhys.com and blog blog.retirementwhys.com. Be sure to ask for the report Selecting Retirement Investments when you visit either of these resources.

There is a problem that is currently occurring in the real estate world and it started with the fact that many investors all over the country are struggling. The real estate market went through a downturn in many places, which led to countless real estate investors getting desperate and looking for fast money. This search for the “miracle” has brought about an entirely new way for certain real estate guru’s (information marketers) to make money. They have figured out that the money is in providing information and selling products. These products are meant to help other real estate investors as they attempt to break out of their current ruts, but one has to wonder whether these gurus selling courses are actually making money in the real estate market.

When people get desperate, they will begin looking for different ways to succeed and this is the situation that many real estate investors are in. When this desperation hits and these individuals attempt to do something about it, multiple problems can arise, especially if they are not getting the proper advice. The problem with many of these gurus is that they have no idea how the real estate market actually works, as they have never made money within the industry. All they have done is read a few books and developed theories on the way that they believe things work, but they do not have any real world experience and truly do not know how to sell a home.

What is happening is that you are seeing a proliferation of “push button” techniques that are sold by these individuals tell real estate investors that they can put their businesses on autopilot and the money will simply start pouring in. Sadly, many investors believe these claims, because of their desperation, and spend their hard-earned money paying for something that will not even work.

These Guru’s are very good at selling their products and can hype them up enough to get nearly anyone to believe in them. After all, who wouldn’t like to make large amount of money doing nothing? These supposed gurus also play on the desperation of people by claiming that they will not be offering these products for much longer because of various reasons. They force buyers to make an immediately decision which, as many real estate investors already know, is not always the best decision to make.

These “newbies” have never been involved in the real estate world to an extent that they are knowledgeable about what is needed and what is real. The truth about these products must come out. The absolute truth is that even though these real estate tasks can be somewhat automated, you will never make money selling homes unless you put the work in.

The reason for this is that people do not want to buy a home from a machine. If you are simply sending them computer generated phone calls and emails, they will quickly lose interest because they need that human touch. You can bet that you would not want to give hundreds of thousands of dollars to someone who will not even take the time to talk to you and these buyers are exactly the same.

The people who sell these systems are scam artists who are simply trying to take advantage of people who are currently struggling. Therefore, it is important that real estate investors take the time to master their own crafts and use real techniques that will expand their businesses.

There is no way to turn your business into an overnight success, as it will take a lot of hard work for people to begin to trust you. Therefore, you must work on becoming an authority that people can trust and relate as a human, as this is exactly what your customers are looking for.

By purchasing one of these “miracle” systems, you are showing these individuals that they can succeed online by selling suspect information and that needs to stop. These people are not putting any money into real estate at the moment and many of them have probably never invested at all. They have simply come up with a little bit of information that they believe people want to hear and desperate people are taking the bait and are wasting their money.

The next time you see one of these gurus and his magic system, do yourself a favor, and think before you buy it. Ask yourself some hard questions. Remember the advice, if it sounds to good to be true, it usually is. By jumping immediately to buy a course before they “close the doors” for good is nonsense. All you will be doing is wasting your money and your time, since there is very little chance that it will work. There are many different things that you can do to improve your real estate business and lead generation, but thinking that all you have to do is push a button and dollars will come flooding in, is ridiculous. Real Estate investing is work. You don’t get something for nothing. If we did, we would all be rich buying these systems

One thing that you should do is begin networking with other people within your industry. While they probably will not let you in on many of their secrets, it might help to see that other people are in the same boat as you. This is not an isolated problem, but is rather something that spans the entire country and will eventually change the way that people are doing business. Just remember that these real estate trainers do not have a corner on the market because they have “insider” information.

The good news is that you can be very successful as a real estate investor borrowing a book from the local library and using software that you can get from long establish real estate education sources. Rather spend your money in marketing your business than buying more information on how to do it. I bet you already have spent enough money on information. Now is the time to commit to taking action and doing the work needed to get a check.

Duncan Wierman is an Ex Software company CEO turned Real Estate Investor and Marketer. Discover how to use creative online marketing methods to do more deals online. For more details on how this type of automated internet marketing system works for real estate investors his free report can be found at http://www.duncanwierman.com. Duncan is also offering readers a complimentary copy of his software at http://www.onlineleadfinder.com