Investment Articles

One of the ideas that has become quite pervasive within the minds of investors is the notion of a “good stock” or a “good property” to own. This notion stems from a general desire on the part of most people to own things of quality. In our personal life, this frequently manifests itself as a desire to own a comfortable home, and a reliable automobile. Quality gives us a feeling of safety and security. Thus, it seems completely natural to want our investments to be the stock of a high quality company, the bonds of a high quality corporation of government, or a property that is desirable in both its quality of construction and location. The problem with this view is that it only provides one half of the information that you need to determine whether an investment is a good deal.

The second half of this investing puzzle is price. Put bluntly, the quality of a stock, bond, or property investment only matters in relation to its price. This means that a ram shackled, blighted property can be a phenomenal deal at a certain price. The stock of media darling companies such as Apple, Google, and Amazon can all be terrible investments at a certain price. It is certainly true that high-quality investments can frequently justify a higher price than lower quality investments. However, it is equally true that any investment can be a spectacular deal if the price is right.

The key for investors is to determine when the price of a high-quality stock, bond, or property is over-valued, or conversely when the price of a lower quality stock, bond, or property is under-valued. Any investment is a good deal at one price, and a poor deal at a different price. Unfortunately, it is frequently very difficult to determine exactly where these two boundaries are drawn for any particular investment.

When estimating the appropriate price for a particular investment, there are two relevant factors that need to be considered. The first is the expected future price, the second is expected future cash flow, and the third is taxes and inflation. When combined, they will create a holistic picture of the value for any particular investment.

Expected Future Price

In the world of stock and real estate investing, this is referred to as appreciation. Fundamentally, it represents the expectation that the future price of an investment will be higher than the price you paid to purchase it. This is frequently referred to as the ‘buy low, sell high’ philosophy. For most investors, this is the primary source of value that they see. Stock market tickers report the price of securities, and the Multiple Listing Service reports the price of properties.
However, the ubiquitous availability of price information frequently causes people to over-emphasize price appreciation as a source of value. It is most certain that price appreciation is an important source of value for investments, but it is certainly not the only value vector. The fact that so many people focus on market prices has made them become very volatile over the past few years. Values for stocks, bonds, and real estate have all fluctuated significantly. This has made future price appreciation very difficult to predict.
In addition to all of this, there is one further characteristic of price that investors must take into consideration. In order to capture the benefit of price appreciation, you must sell the investment. This means that watching the value of your stocks or real estate skyrocket means absolutely nothing unless you sell and lock-in the gain. Thus, in order to realize the full gains from future price appreciation, it means that you must sell at the right time. In practice, this is very difficult to do and frequently results in selling while values are still going up.

Expected Future Cash Flow

Another key characteristic of what makes a good vs. bad deal for investors is the cash flow that is produced. In the case of stocks, this comes from dividends. In the case of bonds, this comes from interest payments and the future return of the bond face amount. In the case of real estate, this comes from rents that are paid by tenants for the use of your property. The importance of cash flow to the value of an investment is that it represents a current, tangible return. Typically, investments that produce the best cash flow don’t always have the best appreciation. However, they also tend to be less volatile since the price tends to be more highly correlated with the rate of cash generation than the market expectations for future price increases.
The way that most investors articulate the future cash flow of an investment is through its yield. In simple terms, the yield of an investment represents its annual cash flow divided by the price paid for the asset. In the case of stocks, the “dividend yield” is the annual dividends divided by the current market price. In the case of rental real estate, the “capitalization rate” is calculated by dividing the annual net operating income of the property by the purchase price. In the case of bonds, the discounted future value of all payments is compressed into an internal rate of return, which is articulated as the bond yield.
In most cases, the rate of cash generation for an investment is much less volatile than the market price of that investment. Stocks that pay dividends tend to adjust their dividend rate at a much slower rate than the market value gyrations of its price. Rents from income properties tend to shift much more slowly than the value of the property. Bonds typically feature a fixed interest and repayment price, with their market value being determined by the movement in yield rates for similar instruments. When market yields increase, the price of bonds currently on the market go down. When market yields decrease, the price of bonds currently on the market go up.

Taxes and Inflation

The final key characteristic that differentiates good vs. bad investments is inflation and taxes. Inflation represents the erosion of you investment’s purchasing power and taxes represent the amount of your gains that need to be paid to the government. One of the oldest and most important concepts in finance is that “It’s not what you make, it’s what you keep”… fundamentally, this means that the “real” rate of return for your investments is much more important than the “nominal” performance.
Starting with inflation, it is important to understand that when the amount of money in circulation expands more quickly than the amount of goods and services being traded, it creates upward pressure on prices. For some asset classes, the effect of inflation is relatively benign, for others it is beneficial, and for some it is devastating. By and large, property values tend to be lifted in proportion with inflation, while cash flows from dividends and rents are also increased by inflation. Some stocks move up with inflation, but certainly not all. On the other hand, bonds with a fixed interest rate are destroyed by inflation since it de-values the interest payments. Conversely, fixed-rate debt that you owe is wiped away by inflation as the dollars you use to re-pay the loan become less valuable.
Another key characteristic to understand is taxes. Different types of income are subject to different rates of taxation. Generally speaking, income that is earned from a job encounters the most taxes. Income that is earned passively encounters less taxes, and income earned from capital investment encounters the least taxes. Astute investors also understand the impact of legitimate business deductions, non-cash expenses such as depreciation, and deferring capital gains through a 1031 exchange to reduce their tax burden down to the legal minimum. In many cases, it is tax advantages that turn a good investment into a great investment.

Ultimately, it is the responsibility of each person to determine what constitutes a superior investment deal. Since people have different appetites for risk, there will always be a variety of investors bidding for a variety of assets. What is most important for the individual investor to do is take an honest assessment of their personal investment tolerance and make decisions that incorporate all of the major value factors. By balancing the future price, future cash flow, inflation risk, and tax characteristics, it will allow you to build a strong portfolio of optimized deals.

Sincere Thanks, Douglas J Utberg, MBA

“Business, Life, and Everything In-Between”

What to do with 1 million dollars is possibly very confusing because the amount is quite huge. It is very possible for us to invest one million dollars and get twenty percent returns. The problem with investing is that we must take a risk with the hope of getting higher returns.

The money can also be kept in the bank, and the returns will be high because the amount of money deposited is huge. The good thing about this is that the money will be very safe and remarkable returns made at the same time. We must have executive control of the money for us to enjoy the benefits. There are also other forms of bad investments that will make the money reduce to half instead of doubling. On the other hand, the money can be put in another form of investment that will give us more returns than even those of the bank. For instance, a real estate will give me almost fifteen percent returns from the capital gains and rent returns. But this will only happen when the estate has been bought in the right area.

Instead of investing the whole amount together, it would be better to invest a hundred dollars thousand first. After sometime, we will find that the returns were a certain percent. This will give us confidence of investing two hundred dollars and so on. For us to get better returns we can change the time period because most people are possessed with getting a higher compounder per year; but what matters is the speed of returns.

Imagine doubling your money every week with no or little risk! To discover a verified list of Million Dollar Corporations offering you their products at 75% commission to you. Click the link below to learn HOW you will begin compounding your capital towards your first Million Dollars at the easy corporate money program. ( http://www.onlinewealthking.com )

First thing to invest in is…Time to read this article it could save you Thousands.

Hello, So I decided to share some wisdom and background in this Hub so I hope you Enjoy.

I have worked in the past selling Land for investment, otherwise know as “Land Banking”

Through this I have spent probably in the region of 800 hours on the telephone to investors and IFA´s (Independent financial advisers) and have picked up a little bit of knowledge on what to invest in and what not to.

It is 2010 nearly 2011 and the economy is not good. Yet some people out there have thousands to invest in, I would recommend you do not invest in anything.

That’s right Cash is King, your broker is sat there saying its a great time to buy, invest in this invest in this your money is doing nothing. Well of course he is, he gets absolutely NO commission if you do not invest so he is happy for you to take a gamble.

If you are adamant you would like to invest then I recommend you invest in things such as Gold, Wine and Coffee. as these items are always sound investments. However there are many other things that sound brilliant but might be a big money grabber.

One thing that is popular at the moment and that I know a lot about is Land Banking. It is growing and as more people invest the companies just get bigger.

The operation usually consists of someone buying a large plot of useless land which is based near current towns and looks to an un professional member of the public like a brilliant investment.

These plots will get planning maybe in 2085 when there is such a demand they decide to let the green field sites go to be built on.

So if you are looking at investing in Land then I recommend you find someone you trust first. There are a few genuine companies out there. I was lucky enough to work for one of them. However I came into contact with many very unreliable cheaply made companies.

The main thing to think at the moment when looking at an investment is can you feed your family if you lose it all.

If the answer is “No” then do not do it, simple as that. Because no investment is 100% safe no matter what your broker tells you. There is always a risk, otherwise they would keep it for themselves.

Due to my previous occupation I could tell you 100 pitch´s to use in order to get you interested in buying a plot of investment land. However it does not mean it is a good idea, I left the operation due to moral feelings. However remember no matter what the broker says they are getting commission sometimes in the region of 15% of the sale so it is highly in there interest to make you buy.

They might use many sales techniques such as the Take away, where by they tell you it probably is not for you and they have run out of the investment so they cannot offer you it. (suddenly they will have a cancellation so that you can make a quick decision and jump on board). Another popular take away method is when they tell you it does not bother if you buy or not because the person on the next call will, this is such an old technique and if you have common sense you should know if it was that good that one in two people buy they would not be telemarketing to new customers for business.

Other methods of sale include giving you a small investment, and guess what it will all go very swimmingly and you will make a nice percentage on it. And then they will bank on your next investment being huge as you will believe they have just made you a lot of money. In reality they could have given you that money out of there own bank role just in order to get you interested, so dont fall for that one.

One big question you need to ask yourself is why and how did the broker get my number?

If the answer to this question is, through a friend that has made money, or they are a family member or something along them lines, then great.

But first make sure that your friend or family member had a good return from a previous investment before you invest because they could just be getting a referral fee for your investment.

Remember it is not an evil plot from your friend, the broker has just sold this client so well they believe in the product and are happy to let you get involved.

So just to re-cap what to invest on and not

Good Investments Include:

* Gold and Silver (precious metals)

* Wine

* coffee

* Your knowledge of investments before making an investment

Bad Investments include:

* Stocks and shares

* Binary shares

* Land

* family members businesses

* Time share

If you have any questions about Investments please do not hesitate to contact me, I have most experience in Land Banking however have knowledge on many different types of investment so please ask me any questions,

(another part of my old sales pitch) “the silliest question, is the one you did not ask”

So I am here for all you people out there that are un-sure of feel bullied into an investment.

According to Morningstar, the 10 year trailing total return for the S&P 500 ending September 21, 2010 is negative. The total is (-0.53). A very small loss but a loss just the same. The go-go days of 10% plus annual returns ended with the dotcom stock bubble busting back in 2000. Hundreds of billions of dollars still sit in 401k accounts and IRAs currently invested in mutual funds and stocks by investors over age 50. Is this wise? Also, with the tax favored window of opportunity for Roth Conversions open at this time, is this your opportunity to move funds to an annuity as an option?

Mutual funds and stocks are suitable investments for younger people who can absorb risk with the advantage of time on their side to recoup losses. As folks get older, asset management is critical to protect the nest egg for retirement or to pass it on to children. Unfortunately many people leave their money in bad investments or take on too much risk. If you want to go to Vegas and have fun, great! But you should not get your thrills by betting on the equity markets while taking downside risk with a limited time horizon to recover. On the other hand, one can be too conservative and put 100% of their money in low yielding 12 month CDs earning an average 1-1.5% currently.

One alternative is to invest in annuity products from top rated insurance companies. A popular product is the Equity Indexed Annuity (EIA). If you are thinking about a Roth conversion, consider EIAs as part of your investment strategy. They might not be right for you but are worth consideration. An individual converting in 2010 from a traditional IRA to a Roth can elect to defer the tax and report half of the income on the 2011 tax return and the rest on the 2012 return. Are taxes going up in the future? Almost certainly they are, even if the GOP takes over this fall. The budget deficits have to be addressed and the national debt can’t just grow unabated forever. If taxes are going up, converting to a Roth makes sense for those investors who may have a large retirement income. If you expect your income to be less at retirement, then a Roth may not be your best option. You may balance your Roth conversion by having accounts with mutual funds in one, CDs in another, and an annuity.

The Equity Indexed Annuity provides protection of invested principle no matter what the stock market does while offering the potential for superior returns if the market does well. Some insurers offer a “bonus” on the initial investment of up to 10%. Equity Indexed Annuities are based on different indexes like the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the New York Stock Exchange Composite index, the S&P 500 Stock Price and the Nasdaq-100 Index. The guaranteed minimum return rate, if any, depend on how the contract is written. Most of these products afford investors the opportunity to put some of the funds in a bond index, some in a stock index etc. However, keep this in mind, an EIA is not going to match performance of the stock market on the way up. It tracks the market via a complicated formula. In most cases the returns are capped so the upside is limited. This product may provide a better return than non-indexed investments but is not going to produce equivalent gains to equities themselves. Like other traditional fixed rate annuities, you may opt for a lifetime income at retirement or may cash it in once you have met the required holding period to avoid surrender charges.

Annuities may be purchased from various sources. Many advisors have a “turf” and are partial to their products. Brokers like stocks and mutual funds, bankers like CDs, and insurance agents like annuities. If you are considering an annuity, seek out a trained insurance professional who specializes in this area. Make sure they carry Errors and Omissions coverage and have a clean record with the State Insurance Commissioner. Today, agents have to make sure a person seeking an annuity is “suitable” for this investment. Some greedy agents in the past have ignored suitability, but regulatory action now has put in place protections to prevent this kind of abuse. Suitability is very important because a major downside to an Equity Indexed Annuity is that it is a long-term investment with serious penalties for early surrender. Often these surrender charges are on the order of 10% or more. Almost all EIAs require holding periods of 5-10 years to avoid surrender charges. There are also potential tax implications when early withdrawals are taken.

An annuity is not guaranteed by the US government although many states have guarantee funds. During the recent financial meltdown of 2008-09, some major stock brokerage firms did not make it. No major US life insurers failed during the crisis although some like AIG did get government assistance. A person should not lockup all of their investment dollars in an annuity. If someone tries to put all of your investment dollars in any one product, think very carefully about whether they have their best interests or yours at heart. Whether or not a Roth conversion is something that may benefit you is a matter to discuss with your tax advisor.

James Robert Coleman, E.A., A.T.A.
Enrolled Agent & Accredited Tax Advisor
Licensed Insurance Agent in Texas, LA, and VA.
http://www.exirsman.com

Not long ago investing was easy. There were few places you could invest and if you had money you wanted to invest, you left it to the professional stock brokers. However, deregulation of the financial markets has changed all this. In the past 20 years new investment products have been launched, changes have been made to the tax systems and retirement plans which have altered the attractiveness of many investment products.

Up to about 20 years ago, share investing was purely in the domain of the wealthy. For most people it was difficult to trade in overseas stock exchanges, there were no such thing as cash management trusts, installment warrants, exchange traded options, dividend imputation, reset preference shares and endowment warrants – to name a few. Now about 50% of investors are “mums and dads” investors who either own shares directly or in managed funds. Unfortunately, in recent years many investors have been “burnt” because they did not understand the risks of investing in financial markets.

Governments around the world have made it clear that it is important for people to take control of their own financial futures. The sustainability of government funded pensions is under pressure. If you do not save and invest, you will suffer a significant decline in your retirement living standard. The average life expectancy is about 80 years, so if you retire at 60 years of age, the savings you have accumulated in the 40 years of your working life will need to fund your retirement of 20 years or more.

Deregulation of financial markets, interest rates and currencies means that the market determines the value of investments and not government decree. This provides opportunities for educated investors to build wealth and for unwary investors to lose wealth. You must understand the opportunities and risks.

The ground rule is that if you want to be a successful investor in financial markets, you must educate yourself about investing. Even if you put your faith in a licensed investment advisor, not all are competent. It is essential that you understand how the financial markets work so that you do not put your hard earned money in the hands of an incompetent advisor who is only interested in the commissions available. How can you tell whether a particular investment is right for you? The only sure way is to become familiar with the language used in the financial industry and to have a sound investment strategy. Does this mean that you should keep you money safe by putting it under the bed or keeping it in the bank? No – but you do need to understand the risks involved and set ground rules for successful investing.

There are a number of ground rules in investing that haves stood the test of time. With time, patience and effort you can become a successful investor in all the areas that are open to you. This will not come overnight and you will have to be prepared for that fact there will be times you lose money. However,perseverance is a virtue above all others. The road is not always easy, but nothing worthwhile is.

Here are the ground rules for successful investing:

1. Be your own investment manager. No advisor or stockbroker should do it for you. Only you know what your real needs are, what your temperament is – and only you are motivated by your own best interests, not sales commissions. It is also more fun to do it yourself.

2. Confront risk and then reduce it through spreading your investments.

3. Take a contrarians view to investment markets. That is, look for opportunities and do the opposite of what everyone else is doing.

4. Do not be put off by investment jargon. Master it instead.

5. NOW is the best time to start investing. Do not wait for the markets to improve. If the share market is filled with gloom, that is the time to buy.

6. Make good quality shares the core of your investment strategy. Then you can rest easy when you invest in more speculative areas.

7. Always consider tax implications of making investments but never let tax minimization be the main objective. The fundamental rule is to think in terms of after-tax returns.

8. Keep up to date through reading the financial papers and searching independent investment research websites.

9. Discussing investments is stimulating. Condition your mind to talk to others about investing, especially people who are more experienced and knowledgeable than you are.

10. Do not be greedy. Discipline yourself to cut your losses with bad investments and cash in when you have made a reasonable profit.

11. Be patient. Rome was not built in a day. Similarly, you may not become wealthy overnight, but you will over time.

12. Never invest in anything you do not understand. If a particular investment sounds too good to be true, it usually is.

13. Pay yourself first. Most people invest money they have left over after paying the bills. Allocate yourself the first 10% of your monthly income to build up your investment capital. By doing this you will force yourself to become an investor and the long term benefits will be enormous.

If you master these 13 ground rules, you will be a successful investor. You will rival so-called professionals and will sleep easily at night knowing that money is the least of your worries.

There are many reasons why rare coins are better then stocks. But, I have found and pinpointed the top two reasons why rare coins are better. I feel that investing is useless if there is no potential in the investment. But many investments that have potential are usually riskier then other investments. So, even if an investment had potential, it may not be worth it if it was too volatile. This is where rare coin investments steps into the picture.

The first reason why coins are better then stocks is because of stability. There are many investment vehicles out there that can yield some hefty returns. But with all investments, the investor/investment manager has to weed out all the bad investments. They have to cut off as much risk as possible. If we look at coins, we can see that it is a very stable investment. Coins are not as volatile as stocks. It doesn’t go up and down by the minute. Its’ movements are a lot slower then stocks, but their movements are very predictable. The predictability is what makes it more stable. Because we know when it goes up and down, we can make confident decisions without risk or heavy losses. I don’t think we can find any other investment that is more stable then coins.

There is an inverse relationship between risk and returns. The returns tend to be lower when you cut off the risks. Some of the safest investments aren’t really worth it anymore because of their low returns. To counter this, investors usually diversify their portfolios. This allows them to cut off risk while improving their returns. But, with stocks, you have to buy enough of each stock to profit. And, you have to buy a lot of many different stocks to diversify. This is extremely costly and messy. With coins, you can buy just about any investment coin you like. You can easily diversify your portfolio by buying a different coin specimen each time you buy a coin. Your returns are never cut short, and you never lay too many eggs in one basket.

The second reason why coins are better then stocks is potential. The right coin never stops going up in value. This has been proven (so far) in historical coin reports. It’s not like stocks where they can stop going up in value. And then the company has to split their stocks so that it can continually go up in value. But, if the CEO doesn’t know when to do this, or does this at the wrong time, the stock may never make anymore sizeable gains. Furthermore, regardless if the stock splits or not, it doesn’t mean that the stock will continually rise in value. The stock can easily go down in value because of bad or false news. And after this, the stock may take forever to recover. Or worse yet, it may never recover at all. Coins on the other hand, can never lose their value because of bad news. Their performance depends mainly on supply and demand. And with the ever diminishing supply, some coins never see a down turn because of weakened demand. At the very most, they might stay stagnant for a short period of time. They will continue to rise again after demand strengthens.

The unique characteristics of rare coins makes it the perfect investment. Furthermore, I don’t think there is any other investment that can be diversified any further then coins. You could buy one example of each investment coin and never run out of coins to buy. It’s ultra safe, it yields extremely high returns, and its’ diversification easiness makes it an investor’s dream. If you have not looked into coins before, now is the time to do so.

To learn more about rare coin investments, please visit http://coinprofits.com

The question is how to invest money to make money. The answer is to invest money only after asking a few questions about investment basics. Here are the questions to ask, and how to invest money to avoid scams and bad deals in general.

How to invest money, rule #1, is that there is no such thing as a perfect investment. A perfect investment would have the following features: guaranteed safe, guaranteed to make money and lots of it, high liquidity, zero costs and expenses, big tax breaks, and easy to monitor… so you always know where you stand financially. All investments can be compared based on investment basics, but no honest proposition contains all of the above features.

A scam will generally IMPLY that safety and high profits are guaranteed. Your first question before you invest money: what are the specific guarantees for safety and investment returns? If the answer you get sounds confusing or misleading, you have no need to ask any more questions. Something is rotten in Denmark, since no investment offers high safety and high profits… except scams. Now, let’s move on to some other investment basics and questions to ask. Remember, a large part of knowing how to invest money involves knowing how to avoid bad investments or those that don’t fit your needs.

Ask about LIQUIDITY. How quickly and easily can you get your money back if you want to cash in? What will it cost you? This is a very honest question, and the answer you get should be straightforward. You’re out to invest money to make money; not to get stuck with a loser that will cost an arm and a leg to liquidate.

The COST OF INVESTING is another investment basic you need to ask about. Most investments involve charges and fees to buy, hold, and/or sell. Many times the details are in the fine print, so make sure to ask upfront. High investment costs can turn a winner into a loser. For example, a good simple fixed annuity will pay a competitive interest rate and will have no charge to invest or hold; and no charges to cash in after just a few years. The wrong annuity contract can cost you 3% or more a year in charges and fees, plus heavy charges if you cash out in the first few years.

Be real careful when an investment promises tax breaks. Ask questions first and get it in writing before you invest money. Then, run it by your tax professional if you have one. If you don’t, take a pass. Your goal is to invest money and make money in the process. Not to take a chance and wind up in trouble at tax time.

Our last area of concern in regard to how to invest money and investment basics I refer to as VISIBILITY, or the ability to monitor your investment. After you invest money, then what? Can you track the value of your investment so you know where you stand financially at all times? Will you receive statements each quarter and at the end of each year showing the value of your investment assets?

As a financial planner, some of the worst horror stories of new clients I interviewed were brought to light when I asked to see their records for the investments they held. Sometimes their records or statements were incomplete or otherwise questionable. Sometimes, these investors could find no records at all and didn’t know who to contact to find out the status of their investment. That’s a perfect example of how to invest… NOT.

Before you invest money, sort out the investment basics covered in this article to avoid scams and other major investment mistakes. Don’t be afraid to ask the questions presented here. If you are dealing with honest people, they will be glad to answer your questions. If not, look someplace else.

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.

Ever since companies stopped paying for our retirements people have been looking for the best ways to invest their money and the best ways to get a great return on investment. Most people don’t know how to get a good return on investment so they play the lotto in the hope that their numbers will come up. I want to show you what you need to do to find a great return on investment.

Most people are ignorant when it comes to finding a great return on investment. They are so scared of losing their money that they invest not to lose, but because they invest in order not to fail then they never win and they never become rich. People subscribe to the idea that in order to be secure you need to work hard, live frugally and save money and invest in diversified mutual funds. Financial planners recommend diversification as a great way to invest, but Warren Buffet, the richest investor in the world, says not to diversify but to focus. He say “diversification is protection against ignorance”.

It is easy to find an investment that loses money. A friend of mine has recently bought a property as investment. He is currently losing $100 per week that he has to pay out of his pay packet. He is losing about 25% per year on his money and he calls it an investment. I can find properties that will earn me 10-30% return on investment. In order to be able to get a great return on investment you need education.

The best return on investment you will ever receive is the return on investment from your education. The best investment I ever made was when I got a membership card for my local library. It was absolutely free and I got training from some of the best financial teachers in the world. It changed my life and it changed my finances. I am becoming richer and richer because of that simple investment into a library card and into my education.

If you want to know how to find a great return on investment then you need to understand finances and you need to understand how to invest. There is no get rich quick formula that I can give you for finding a great return on investment. Because it depends on the investor. I have seen great investments lose money because of an inexperienced investor and I have seen bad investments make a lot of money when bought by a smart investor. So I can just recommend property, or stocks or a certain business because it depends on the investor.

The best way to find a great return on investment is to increase your financial intelligence. The most important word in finance is the word cashflow. This simple word has caused businesses to fail and caused great investment opportunities go bust. If you want to be rich then you need to focus on your cashflow. Anyone can find an investment that will lose money but it is a lot harder to find an investment that will make you money and generate you cashflow.

I am actually blessed because I work only part time, and so does my wife, so we have to think cashflow when we are investing. We don’t have the excessive cashflow to purchase these ‘investments’ that lose money. I recommend that you focus your energy first in increasing your intelligence through financial education. Read books, search the net and do everything you can to learn all you can about finances. I went from having no clue to having a clear investment strategy to be financially free in 5 year in just 6 weeks. So anyone can do it.

Becoming financially free in just 5 years is possible for anyone. It doesn’t matter what your current financial situation is, you can become rich and never have to work again in just 5 short years. You don’t need a high paying job or a get rich quick scheme, you just need real training on creating real strategies for getting rich.

Go to http://www.richacademy.com and sign up now to start you free training on “How To Get Rich Without Making More Money”. Don’t waste any time, start training yourself to be rich today by signing up for your free teaching.

Investing your money can be quite scary, but so is letting it stay stagnant in a bank. Choose the right investment with the person you trust most, yourself. Discover many real estate investment opportunities by going on a real estate investment tour.

Pattaya. Thailand – Thousands of people have been reported to file bankruptcy each year because of bad investments. 78 percent of them claim that this predicament happened because they were sweet talked into an investment by a so-called expert, and 57 percent of them also admitted that they didn’t clearly knew what they were investing in.

Greg Sanders, a New York Investment advisor, said, “This is the major problem. If you can’t take an active role in your investments, then you may as well say goodbye to your hard earned money, not that you have to always keep a tab on it, especially on the property market, but you need to know what you are getting into, just like how it works on most everything in life.”

Real estate have been receiving a lot of flack through the past years, the global economic problems that the world has been experiencing for the past year now has made a major dent on the market. But there are still some areas in the planet that has been considered as key hotspots in real estate investment.

Knowing What to Invest In

Many persons could be easily swayed to believe that such a property is a worthwhile investment. Gifted with a golden tongue, many of these so called experts can be easily sway any potential investor to invest money on their seminars on what they claim to be premier properties without the benefit of actually seeing or inspecting what they would be investing their money in. Because these seminars require a fee, people are already losing their money before they even get the chance to get the possibility of earning a profit.

This is where a real estate investment tour would make the big difference.

Real estate investment tours provide the opportunity for an investor to see what they are actually investing in, and not just a fancy slideshow or computer presentation that has been glorified aimed to take your money. By allowing yourself the chance to actually gauge your chance of making a huge profit from your venture, you will have a better understanding of what you are getting into.

If anyone is interested in real estate investment, then going on a real investment tour first is the best decision. Why be blindsided with sweet talk when you will be able to see what you are getting into by yourself?

Guided by a real estate investment expert, a tour would give you more than information than a dozen financial investment seminars would ever provide. And without any obligation to invest, any real estate investment tourist would more than likely laos have the chance to enjoy the trip and regard it as a vacation.

With Pattaya, Thailand as one of the hottest regarded real property investment, this tropical paradise would definitely make your time worthwhile.

Robert Tracey Loves Real Estate and loves Thailand and Loves talking about it he takes investors to Thailand to look for property for investment and life style he will show you everything you need to know about investing in Thailand find out more by going to http://buyrealestateat.com/tours/

In your search for information on investing you will come across many articles, brochures, and sources that outline opportunities for you to make money. Some of these will be truthful and others will be misleading. Just how do you tell the difference?

Look for experience

Many reputable people and firms will offer information on investment opportunities. The main way to find out if the offer is genuine is to look at the structure of the organisation that is making the offer. You need to go into the historical results and structure of the organisation.

In Australia, investment advisors need to be licensed. How long has the firm you are considering been licensed? If the people or firm have only been licensed for a year, then they have no previous historical results that you can look at. It might be wise to review them at a time further down the track when they have performance results to show you. Look for experience.

Beware The Unbelievable

In your research travels, you will come across all sorts of offers. Some are too good to be true. Often they are just that. Unfortunately, there are those people that become trapped in financial exploits and need money to bail themselves out. Often they need or want your money. These are dangerous investments. It takes a shrewd business person to rescue a financially exposed business opportunity. These are not investments for beginners. You may be offered ownership rights, with the majority of profit outcomes as a lure into financially rescuing a business opportunity. You see all the outcomes as positive, and are rarely aware of the downsides of costs and viability. A financial disaster awaits you.

Misleading Headlines

Headlines are meant to grab your attention. Brochures and advertisements rely on this. However with the misleading headline, once your attention is gained, the explanation behind the headline is never reached or given in the follow up. Headlines that state “Massive profits!” and “Opportunities never to be repeated!” are marketing tools that can be used to mislead the investor into believing that easy profits are to be made. The main question to ask here is that if easy profits are to made, has the person offering the product or service made the profits they are talking about, and if so why are needing investors to make the same profits? What’s in it for them? This cautious attitude will save you from many bad investments.

Good Information – Bad Information.

In summary, the three main points to look at are;

1) Who

Who is giving you this information, what are the history and track performance records that can be verified?

2) What

What is on offer and is it too good to believe. It often will be.

3) Why

Why is the offer being given to you? Has the person making the offer completed and made the same profits that they are offering you?

4) When.

When is the offer expiring? Do not get pushed into acting by an expiration date. This is often used to stop you properly exploring the background information you need to make your decisions.

For more information on how to invest in shares visit http://www.i-tradeoptions.com

James McInnes is a professional share market trader and investment entrepreneur, with many years experience trading the Australian Share market. You can visit his site to learn about Trading Options In Australia.