Investment Articles

Official figures out show gold bullion prices have risen for yet another day as people continue to get jittery over exactly how much their paper money will continue to be worth. Fears over mounting debt in the western world have fuelled a demand for gold and precious metals that mean prices have climbed 13 percent this quarter – the most since 2007. If you are looking at gold bullion investments, will buying gold bullion alone protect your wealth?

The facts are difficult to ignore: amid the fanfare that the worst of the recession is over, American companies did not increase their workforce as much as predicted and some reports show that business expansion actually slowed compared to last month. Seen as a sign that the US workforce is struggling, this provoked a desire to protect wealth in the face of an uncertain economy, and many turned to gold bullion.

Historically, it has been proven that gold bullion has the ability to ignore global recessions and does well when other forms of investments fail. It has soared in value when currencies fall and grows from strength to strength in times of high inflation.

We are living in uncertain and unprecedented times. The riots in Greece over currency devaluation has provoked fear and it is only natural that people turn towards the one thing that has stood the test of time in not only increasing their wealth but also protecting it.

In the light of the above, one could argue a very strong case that gold alone is the best wealth protector and you should go all out to increase gold bullion investments. However, I would like to point you towards wealth creation alongside wealth protection – one that can even produce in these uncertain times.

The internet explosion has opened up multi-million dollar industries. Having had this technology unleashed into the world, there is no going back – there will never be a time in the future where the internet will pass away as ‘a phase’. Increasing technological inventions will continue to bring new visions and ideas to a computer near you – whatever that may look like. This in itself will continue to open up many more million dollar opportunities.

Protecting your wealth also means finding new ways of increasing your wealth. If you knew there was a key that would open the door into a prosperous future, would you take it? Would you be prepared to invest your time and money in learning new knowledge that would equip you to survive a volatile work market for many years to come?

If you have no desire to sit back and wait and see what the future brings but would prefer to gain insight into how to increase your wealth now, visit the following link. http://www.earnyourwealth.co.uk All the hard work has been done into creating a wealth-increasing business model that can be put to use immediately. When looking at gold bullion investments, if you are asking yourself whether buying gold bullion alone will protect your wealth, you will be able to consider wealth creation as well.

Olive Bush is an online marketer teaching people from around the world to make money online and how to build their home based business. To learn more about Olive and her business please visit http://www.earnyourwealth.co.uk

What about gold as an investment?

Many people think about buying gold by the ounce, which is out of reach for a lot of people in today’s market. But what about buying gold by the gram?

A gram is about 1/31 of an ounce and is a lot more affordable for many people.

A company has been delving into this idea and is currently beginning to go worldwide with this concept.

Gold is place in small one gram gold bars on a small credit card size card. It can be taken to a jeweler and verified that…yes…this is real gold.

Not only is it real gold, but it is.999 pure gold, 24K gold, trans-actionable gold.

Currencies are currently losing their value around the world. World economies are linked to each other, and as one goes into a tailspin, it is affecting the others.

The dollar has lost 40% of its value in the last nine years. 4,000 currencies have crashed since the beginning of time. Gold has held its value for 2,000 years.

Gold is unique in today’s economy. It is the one item, which if you purchase it today, there is a good chance it will be worth more tomorrow.

There is no other item on the planet like gold. Any other item which you purchase, you will either use up, or it will begin to depreciate.

If you have not thought about investing in gold, now is the time. A company is posed to take advantage of the failing currencies of the world with a gold-backed savings plan. Consider putting some of your portfolio in gold, it is historically a good investment.

Cheryl Jones has been studying the history of money and gold vs the fiat money of the Federal Reserve system. She is currently involved in bringing affordable gold to the masses. http://buyonegramgoldbars.com

I can’t tell you how many times I have heard that the key to making money is “hard work” in the last six months. The new economy appears to have resulted in a 180 degree turn from the mindset of a little more than a year ago when it comes to investment decisions. The overall lack of stability across the board has really shaken the fundamentals of our investing philosophy.

As the credit markets are still very tightly guarded, and as a commercial banker friend of mine recently said, “we are really only loaning money to individuals that have enough money to cover the loan.” Many folks are going back to depression era thinking of it is time to tighten up the belts and hit the pavement, the key to making a good living is to hit the streets with hard work.

Overall, this may not be a terribly bad thing. Investment strategies were getting pretty crazy, like hedged derivative swaps, which if you don’t know what that is, that is okay because I just made it up; which isn’t much of a stretch from what was going on with our Wall Street friends. In a nutshell, investment strategies were being created to take advantage of the latest phenomenon in the market, and you just had to trust your broker knew what he was doing. This is somewhat reminiscent of Enron, however they couldn’t even explain what they were doing, but for a while there, they were printing money, or so it seemed, and all was right with the world.

Times have changed; investors now want to know what they are investing in, to the extent that CD’s and treasury bonds are popular again with, even with their low interest rates.

Just a little food for thought, but historically speaking the most wealth is made coming out of recessions and market adjustments. This wealth, is absolutely not made by individuals who believe that it is time to hit the streets and work harder, nor are these individuals pulling out of the market and investing in CD’s and treasury bonds.

The largest wealth is created in either emerging products/services or investing in significantly undervalued assets. There will always be a new greatest thing out on the market, however this is the more risky of the two substantial wealth building strategies, as there are countless failures for every new product success. There are businesses, like venture capital funds which take the Babe Ruth approach to investing, failing two thirds of the time, having a few base hits, but the occasional home run can make or break the company. Varying statistics show that these venture capital funds only work with less than 1% of the potential opportunities that cross their desk, so it is obvious that this is a full time, specialized endeavor best left to the professionals with DEEP pockets.

On the other hand, investing in undervalued assets, does not require you to be willing fail more than you succeed, it simply requires a little restraint and a brain. The restraint is required because the reason many fail with this type of strategy is because they jump on the bandwagon of the next best thing, or the get rich quick lure is simply too good to pass up. What is required here is a simplistic investing strategy centered on investments you understand.

For example, most investors and advisors preach diversification, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, however if you take a look at the wealthiest investors on the planet, you will find their strategy is the exact opposite. Take Warren Buffet for example, his entire strategy revolves around investing in a handful of companies that he knows and understands for the long haul. On a daily, weekly, monthly and yearly basis the stock market can appear to be pretty volatile, but no matter how volatile it may appear stretch the results over a long enough time line and the trend will emerge. Warren always sees the long-term view of the market and is able to pick out strong companies that, for some reason or another, the market, in the short term, has significantly undervalued. Additionally, where most investors buy stock, see the stock begin to slide even further then attempt to sell in a panic, Warren will simply buy more, knowing that he is continuing to buy stock as it approaches the bottom of the temporarily undervalued company. Once it turns around, he gets to ride the wave back up, and will continue to hold on to the stock as its value increases over time.

Another strategy, and my personal favorite, is investing in undervalued real estate. Like any type of investment, investing in real estate is similar to steering and airplane. Between any two points along any journey, an airplane is off course the vast majority of the time. Winds are constantly changing and pushing the plane off course, with the pilot having to constantly make corrections, sometimes undershooting (winds stronger than anticipated), sometimes overshooting, (winds less than expected), the course thus having to correct the corrections. The real estate market is the same way. At any given time, the estimated value of a property can be either over valued or undervalued based on the current market conditions.

Like Mr. Buffet, the key to knowing where the current market estimates are vs. the more accurate long-term view of a properties value is simply to take a long view of the market stretching far enough back in time to see where the general trend line is and compare it to the current value. When the current market conditions place a properties value significantly under the long term trend line, then you have a true candidate for a potential undervalued property. The next step is to understand the actual market conditions themselves to determine whether the local economic environment is simply over reacting to economic conditions, or if there is an underlying problem. For example, in Florida, real estate prices spiked through the roof, the so called bubble popped sending real estate values plummeting. In this example the market over reacted on both sides, market prices were too high to begin with, but the subsequent collapse has sent prices back almost 20 years in some areas, which is also an overreaction and an opportunity for a long-view investor to capitalize on significantly undervalued real estate. The scarcity principle works here as there is simply only so much coastal/warm weather real estate in the United States, and values will not stay depressed forever.

On the flip side if you are in a market that is propped up by one or two major employers that either are faltering or considering leaving the area, then the problem is a local one and an investment in this area would be unwise.

In short, if all else remains equal and the only change in the real estate market is the real estate prices adjusting to the macro economy, then look for over reactions for investing purposes. If the local economy is faltering due to micro economic conditions, then steer clear.

One of the key bonuses to investing in real estate is the principle of leverage, meaning banks will lend on real estate but not stocks. But we will cover this in another article. Stay tuned and smart investing.

http://www.problempropertybuyer.com
http://www.wealthbuilderinvestments.com

If you sincerely want to learn about the stock market-how it operates, how you join and how you profit-and other sort of investments, then you might want to set up your own private investment club (PIC). This “club” is often made up of a small band of people who joined together to delve into investment plans and make small profits with their investments together.

Club Organization. PICs are often made of not more than 15 people who seriously want to learn about investments together. To keep the club alive, members have to pay regular obligations either monthly or quarterly. As there are not a lot of members, each member is expected to contribute or participate in every activity of the club.

Investments. Whatever investments your private investment group decides to take in, it should be decided by the whole group. Do not expect financial yield in the first few years of the investment. Just like any investment tools, each member should be prepared to invest long term. It may not help your club if there will be members who seek immediate financial return on their investment or simply wants to cash out of the investment club the soonest time possible. With PICs, patience is always a virtue.

Goals. Most private investment clubs only have two goals: to lean the dynamics of investing, and how to eventually profit from these investments.

Learning the dynamics of investing can be learned through the process of fulfilling tasks that is assigned to each member like researching or tracking the movement of specific stocks that your PIC has tried to invest in, or might be considering as an investment. All information should be shared with the rest of the group during meetings, including all the process involved on how the information was acquired. It is only through this that all the members of the group will benefit from the effort of each member and, in turn, everyone will learn altogether without having one being overtaken by the other.

On the other hand, the second objective is achieved through time. Your private investment group should have improved their investment skills and should be able to choose stocks that have great financial yield. Again, it is not wise to expect immediate financial gain unless your group is savvy and lucky enough to discover the next Yahoo.

So if you want to delve into the world of investments yet is quite unsure of how to, then a private investment club would be your best options. To learn more about investment clubs, please be sure to visit http://www.investmentclubhelp.com.

Property investors are constantly searching the globe for the next property investment hotspot to emerge somewhere in the world. Many investors are beginning to return to the Caribbean as a safe place in which to place their hard-earned cash, having had their fingers burned investing in other areas around the world.

The Caribbean has always been an attractive place to visit for a holiday, with its all-year-round, tropical climate including sunshine, sandy beaches and warm, turquoise seas. The fact that the area attracts tourists year-round in their millions makes it doubly attractive to property investors, of course. As large numbers of tourists visit the Caribbean then it follows that there will be no shortage of interest in renting your investment property.

Since the advent of popular commercial air travel in the 1960s and 70s, the Caribbean has become a regularly-visited tourist haven, which has made it the attractive investment area it is currently.

So, it has become a year round tourist centre because of its climate. It is, without doubt, a beautiful part of the world with many islands, resorts, facilities and beaches regularly being voted in the top twenty in world rankings in their specific categories.

The close proximity to the North American landmass means that visitors from the USA and Canada provide a constant supply of holidaymakers to the Caribbean. This leads to high occupancy rates in hotels and resorts. Often, during the high season between November and May, there are insufficient rooms available to meet demand.

As an investor this news is the stuff of dreams, particularly if they are investing for cash flow and capital growth rather than making a lifestyle investment purely for their own use. More visitors than rooms available drive up the rates that can be charged for rooms. Because it is the Caribbean there are many people who are prepared to pay those very high room rates.

High room rates and a year-round season promises high occupancy and excellent rental returns for investors. The Caribbean also has an established tourist infrastructure, particularly in the more popular islands such as Barbados, Dominican Republic, St Lucia, Antigua, Grenada and Jamaica. They are used to receiving tourists and providing them with the facilities to enjoy the holiday they desire and to draw them back year after year.

There is easy access to the Caribbean with regular flights into major tourist islands from Europe and North America. Some of the smaller islands, lacking international airports, are more difficult to reach but those who undertake the long journey find it exceptionally worthwhile.

There is also a long history of stability and capital growth in the Caribbean with recession having less effect there than in most leading economies around the world. Capital growth in property across the Caribbean is steady and there are no boom and bust events in the property market there. In Barbados, for example, there has been no recorded fall in property prices in over sixty years.

And, although there is demand for more accommodation to meet the growing number of visitors, the planning regulations are strictly applied. Of course, being small islands in the main, the opportunity for expansion of the property supply is limited. There are also many protected areas, such as national parks and rainforests, which cannot be developed.

For the investor, the great news is that this environment will prevent the dramatic and foolhardy over-development which has occurred in other parts of the world and has reduced the value of many investors’ property purchases. The rate of property development in the Caribbean is sustainable with new resorts meeting existing demand and individual developments often being for lifestyle investors only.

The food, people and culture of the Caribbean also make it a wonderful place to visit, with its completely laid-back lifestyle which appeals to so many visitors who want only to enjoy the outdoor activities, or often the lack of any activity.

All these attractions enticing visitors to the Caribbean all add up to a unanimous thumbs up for the property investor looking for high rental returns as a result of high room rate charges and high occupancy levels throughout the year.

Probably the two main benefits from property sought by investors in that asset class are

• Excellent rental yields and
• Consistent high capital growth.

The Caribbean offers opportunities to achieve both of these benefits.

Consequently, the conclusion is: Yes, there are numerous reasons to choose the Caribbean as an eminently suitable area for sound property investment!

For your FREE Copy of “The 7 Biggest Mistakes Made By Overseas Property Purchasers” – go here: http://www.invest5star.co.uk

What is meant by a hidden gem? If money is involved then how come it is not exploited like every other avenue of making money? Well to put it simply, not a lot of people know about this money making treasure. How does it work and how would you make money? Basically, a tax lien is an outstanding/overdue property tax owed by the property owner who neglects to pay it or cannot afford it. Therefore, the government tries to recover this money by selling tax lien certificates to investors. This certificate is secured by the real estate it is attached to. In essence, when one buys a tax lien, you are paying someone else’s property tax.

The best part of this deal is that the government actually gives one the right to receive all the tax money back plus other fees that includes penalties and high interest. For example, in Fort Myers, Florida the interest penalty is 17%, where as in certain counties in Texas the interest penalty is a whopping 25%. Imagine investing in something and getting a GUARANTEED 25% return on your investment. The worst case scenario is that if the owners cannot pay the tax, you get the property that is free from mortgage and debts. Imagine investing $3,000, but due to the negligence of the owners can’t pay their taxes, therefore you get to keep a property that is usually worth 30-40x than your initial investment, if not more.

This is a very simple process. You could wither go to the actual state or you can do it from the comfort of your own home. Imagine making millions of dollars a year from minimal investments. The profits to be made are relatively infinite. Just to give you an example, I bought a house in Arizona 1 years ago for $4,178. I live in Canada and I did not have time to fly all the way to Arizona. The market evaluation on the house was $620,000. The owner did not pay his taxes on his property therefore defaulting on his property. GUESS WHAT? The house became mine and I sold it for $580000 due to the recession and limited amount of buyers. I made the equivalent of 138 times of my initial investment. Imagine if it wasn’t a recession and it was prosperous times. I could have sold that house for $640,000 according to my real estate agent down there.

Matthew DiLorenzo invites you to join him on his blog at http://www.fountainsofwealth.wordpress.com. Feel free to subscribe to the weekly newsletter

Making the right investment at the right time can provide your savings the boost needed to make your finance plans a success. If you are able to make the perfect long term and short term investments, then you will surely be a winner.

Today with the tons of investments options available, it is very common that everyone seems to be confused regarding which one to choose. Let me explain the three traditional methods of investment here.

1. Stocks
Investing in stocks is a very reliable option. Most of the people consider it clever to make investments in the right stocks. When you make an investment in the stock of a company, it will give you a part of the ownership of that company. If you are an advanced stock analyzer, you can handle your stocks and make more profits in the stock transactions.

2. Bonds
The process of purchasing a bond actually means that you lend the company some money. When you buy the bond of a company, the company gives you some loyalties. Also the company is responsible for getting you the money back. Bonds are very effective in increasing the value of your savings.

3. Short Term Investments
The short term investments include market investments, certificates of deposit etc. These are only aimed at generating revenue for in a very short period of time. They are not long term investments, but they can surely build your wealth. They can help you if you are planning to accomplish a financial dream like buying a car.

Personal budgeting is the backbone of a secure financial future. Contact us if you need any budgeting help.

The basic problem that most people, who are intending to invest their money in a business face is threefold. First, time, second, money and lastly, risk. Taking these three aspects into account here is why you should really think about starting a business online.

Time is usually in short supply when you are starting your own business. First you cannot run the business indefinitely without making a profit. If you left a salaried job to start your business then you probably have another problem in that you gave up your sure income for an unsure future and living off credit until you start getting an income off your business.

This is where you have your first advantage with an online business. You don’t need to leave your job as you can start your business part time. You need about two hours a day and good planning to make your business successful in less time than it will take for you to make a brick and mortar business successful. The great advantage of this is that you can keep the stable income coming in until you have replaced it with the income from your business.

The second problem investors face is the amount of money they need to put up to make their business work. It can be scary and it can ruin you for the long term if you are not careful. With an online business you can eliminate that to a large degree although not totally. The good news is that you can with, a lot less money, and again good research invest a lot less money and get a much greater return on investment with an online business.

Risk is something we can never avoid if we are intending to invest in a business. In fact taking risk is to a certain degree actually a healthy thing for the human spirit. But no one wants to take too much risk and break the bank. This is just another reason you should consider investing online as it is relatively low risk compared to other forms of business. Money wise and time wise you should not have the same risk online if you approach it correctly and with the correct attitude.

So there you have it. My five cents on why investing online is a good idea. But whatever you decide to do just do it, because it beats working for a boss your whole life

For more information on the highly lucrative business of Affiliate Marketing and How to Create a Money Making Membership Site visit http://www.onlinesuccess2.com/

Van Eck responds to popularity of small-caps in Brazil with a wider net of Latin American stocks while First Trust creates the BICK, an emerging markets play swapping Korea for Russia.

First, the innovative Van Eck family of ETFs has introduced a Latin America Small-Cap ETF ( LATM – news – people ) to build on its popular Brazil Small-Cap ETF ( BRF – news – people ).

Brazil dominates LATM with 43% of the basket, followed by Mexico at 23% and Canada at 19%. The small-caps in this new basket remind me of what a small-cap represented when I started in this business with Robert W. Baird: with a market cap of at least $150 million and meet certain liquidity requirements. Coupling LATM with large cap regional ILF could be a powerful double-barreled shotgun aimed at Latin American growth.

Next comes a First Trust spin on the BRIC concept by throwing out Russia and replacing it with South Korea (NYSE: EWY) one of my favorite emerging market holdings. The First Trust BICK Index Fund (NASDAQ: BICK) began trading this week.

To some, adding South Korea will seem odd since it is now leading the group of 20 and has a per capita far higher than India, China and Brazil. In fact South Korea has a GDP roughly equal to that of India though its population is about 5% of India. South Korea’s future is closely tied to growing with these countries and adding it into this grouping should add balance and lower volatility and risk. Another aspect I like is that each country receives an equal 25% allocation in the index, consisting of up to 25 stocks, which are also equally weighted. It would be better to have more of a concentrated approach with a total of 40 stocks.

Currently, BICK has 87 holdings, and the top 10 holdings all have weightings of more than 2%. The largest sectors are: Financials 24.8%, Technology 22.1%, Materials 13.4%, Industrials 9.6% and Telecommunications 8.5%. The top holdings, all from India, are Icici Bank ( IBN – news – people ), Satyam Computer Services ( SAY – news – people ), Tata Motors ( TTM – news – people ), Patni Computer Systems ( PTI – news – people ), and Infosys Technologies ( INFY – news – people ). The new ETF will have an expense ratio of 0.70%.

More information can be found at the First Trust homepage contains links to the BICK fact sheet and the Investor Guide.

Finally, Schwab’s eight low-fee ETFs have reached cumulative assets of $1 billion: –Schwab U.S. Broad Stock Market (SCHB), 0.08% expense ratio:

–Schwab U.S. Large-Cap (SCHX), 0.08% expense ratio

–Schwab U.S. Small-Cap (SCHA), 0.15% expense ratio

–Schwab International Equity (SCHF), 0.15% expense ratio

–Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Growth (SCHG), 0.15% expense ratio

–Schwab U.S. Large-Cap Value (SCHV), 0.15% expense ratio –Schwab International Small-Cap Equity (SCHC), 0.35% expense ratio –Schwab Emerging Markets Equity (SCHE), 0.35% expense ratio

Carl T. Delfeld is the publisher and author of “Around the World with ChartwellETF.com,” a weekly newsletter focused on using ETFs (Exchange-traded Funds) to take advantage of the investment opportunities offered by Global and Emerging Markets and providing recommendation for building a global investment portfolio. Visit http://www.chartwelladvisor.com to view recent featured articles and investment advice.

Spanish banks are borrowing record amounts from the European Central Bank as the country’s financial institutions struggle to gain funding from the global capital markets.

Spanish banks borrowed €85.6bn ($105.7 billion) from the ECB last month. This was double the amount lent to them before the collapse of Lehman Brothers in September 2008 and 16.5% of net eurozone loans offered by the central bank.

This is the highest amount since the launch of the eurozone in 1999 and a disproportionately large share of the emergency funds provided by the euro’s monetary guardian, according to analysis by Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Evolution. Spanish banks account for 11% of the eurozone banking system.

This just reflects Spain’s struggle to hold things together and the acute stage of Spain’s liquidity crisis. The exchange-traded fund iShares MSCI Spain Index (EWP), which corresponds to the price and yield performance of publicly traded securities in the Spanish markets, is down -24.6% this year.

This is coupled with a no growth economy that at its peak in 2006 relied on tourism and housing for 25% of GDP. Housing starts in 2006 were greater than Italy, Germany, France and U.K. COMBINED.

R&D only accounts for 1.3% of GDP. High school graduation rate is 1/2 EU average. Adjusted for GDP, Spain’s unsold housing inventory is 6 times that of America. Spain does not even have one university in the world’s top 150. Unemployment rate is 22%. Budget deficit is 11.5% of GDP. Total debt is 270% of GDP. Credit downgrades equal higher borrowing costs equal debt spiral. Looks like Spain has some work to do.

Carl T. Delfeld is the publisher and author of “Around the World with ChartwellETF.com,” a weekly newsletter focused on using ETFs (Exchange-traded Funds) to take advantage of the investment opportunities offered by Global and Emerging Markets and providing recommendation for building a global investment portfolio. Visit http://www.chartwelladvisor.com to view recent featured articles and investment advice.