Investment Articles

Investment is the commitment of money or capital to buy financial instruments or other assets in order to gain profitable returns in form of interest, income, or appreciation of the value of the instrument. Investment is a term normally used in the fields of economics, business management and finance. Your focus in investing is on return and can run the spectrum from conservative to very belligerent in terms of risk.

The best way to defend your stock investments is to own a broad mix of large and small companies and foreign and domestic issues. Business risk is, maybe, the most familiar and easily understood. The main technique for reducing investment risk is diversification. Thoughtful investment selections that meet your goals and risk profile keep individual stock and bond risks at a suitable level.

Many of the wealthiest people in the world owe their fortunes to different types of residual income – from stocks and bonds to investment trusts, real estate and possessions. Technical selection assumes that security prices typically move in identifiable patterns that can be determined through chart techniques to extrapolate trends.

In these difficult days when the soundness of our financial system has come into question, it is critical to find the optimum investment strategies which will guard and grow your wealth. I shall let you in on a little secret about investing; it is not nearly as hard as you think. The first thing you require to do is realize that there is no “perfect” way or time for you to start.

If you want to make money from buying and selling financial instruments, you may as well join a group of investors who know how to take risks and get higher returns on their investments. Most people view investors as people who are concerned with making investments, whether they are investing in stocks, bonds or foreign exchange. Investors are commonly referred to as a set of people or companies that are deeply concerned with buying or selling equity, debt securities or other financial instruments for a financial gain. Not only are investments made in stocks and bonds, but investors may also purchase assets, personal property, foreign currency and other commodity derivatives to make money. There are several different types of investors; let’s look at a few of them and the nature of the investments that they partake in.

Individual Investors

These individuals basically make their own investment decisions. To practice investments as an individual, you will need to undertake quite a number of researches to understand how the investment of interests operates and how to maximize on your profit levels. It is highly recommended that when you are going to invest on your own, you develop a portfolio that is diversified, meaning, you don’t have all your money in one type of investment, but rather your investments are stretched across a number of investment schemes and programs. By having a diversified portfolio it will mean that you will have lowered your risks, mainly because the investment markets can fluctuate but all the investments never usually goes down at the same time, while some go up others will go down and vice versa.

Investment Trusts

In this type of investment, investors’ money is pooled together. At the launch of the trust, they will offer the sale of a number of stocks that are bought by people who have invested in the trust. The trust will then move to invest that large sum of money on the behalf of their stock purchasers. The investment trust will invest your money in lucrative stocks and shares in a number of companies to obtain a financial gain. In general, when the trust gains from investing your money, they will give you a percentage of that gain, therefore, the higher the gain on the investments by the trust, the higher the returns on your investment.

Angel Investors

If you are a wealthy individual, you should consider investing into a company that is new. An angel investor is someone who provides large start-up capital for a business in return for ownership equity and some convertible debt. It’s like you will be the person who starts the business financially, you may even be considered as the ultimate owner. In most recent times, there are some angel groups which are formed to invest in business.

Real Estate Investment

One of the most lucrative types of investment opportunity is purchasing property. If you can purchase a number of properties, you could be in for a fantastic way of making money in the form of rental income. The thing is people will always want somewhere to live and if you can provide somewhere for them to live you can make a stable income and high profitability.

For information about finding and comparing the best online Stock Brokers, visit http://www.yourbrokerguide.com

There are different securities in the market today that we can choose from. They are all forms of investments or different ways to keep you money somewhere besides a bank. They can offer great returns if you know what you are doing. If you don’t, I suggest you seek the help of a professional before you start investing blindly.

Let’s start with Mutual Funds. This is one of the most common investment vehicles that people use in today’s world. Most employees who invest in a 401k have mutual funds in their portfolios. They are pooled investment accounts that allow the employee to invest if different things with little money. You can invest in a wide range of things when it comes to mutual funds. They are generally stocks and bonds for most people. Most of them are managed by professional money managers that you hire. They are paid from the investments that they make for you. Check with a professional to learn more before you get started.

Stocks are also an option that you can use to invest. Stocks are where you buy shares of ownership of a specific company. The value of the shares will move up and down with the market and with the company’s overall performance. Once again, check with a professional before getting started.

Exchange Traded Funds are another form of investment. They are generally called ETF’s and are pooled investments that mirror a market or index. They are traded by individuals mostly. They offer the investor a way of investing without the cost associated with professional management. You still need to seek professional education before investing. They have become very popular over the past 15 years. Lots of people use them.

Unit investment trusts are fixed groups of different investments whose shares are sold to individual investors. Many ETF’s are sold and organized into these trusts.

Closed end mutual funds are another type of investment trust. They are trust that is fixed groups of securities that are traded by individual investors and are professionally managed.

Investing takes education just like everything else. Please seek to have a good education before you think about investing. This will save you from loosing lots of money in your life if you just spend a little time learning from someone who has been there already.

Darius has been writing online for a while now. He has a lot of different interests. You can check out some of his websites at http://www.usedhockeyequipment.org and http://www.adjustablebeds.org

Investing your money is probably the best use of funds you own. However, if it is invested in various financial products without proper research, you can lose every thing you owe. Hence, the process of financial investment starts with effective planning and research.

But you cannot start with financial investment planning if you don’t have a specific goal in mind. Hence, one of the foremost requirements is ascertaining a goal. It can be either of the two goals mentioned below:

- Conservation of existing funds
- Growth of existing funds
- Or both of them

What you do with the money you conserved or grew depends on your personal preferences. Unfortunately, not many people have goals in their mind before investing their money. Hence, they money they create or conserve is misused often. Financial investment planning involves going through a step-by-step process. Let us have a look at it.

- Setting goals
- Analyze your risk taking ability
- Asset Allocation or portfolio designing
- Select investment products that suits your needs
- Regular monitoring of your investment
- Redesigning your portfolio when necessary

This is one of the money processes to go about investing your funds. You can alter this process according to your needs. This is, however, a very broad one and may be applicable to every individual.

Just knowing the process isn’t important. You must know about all the available investment options and know which one to invest in.

If you don’t intend to take much of risk, you can invest your money in cash products or cash equivalent products like currency, bank balances, money orders, coins, GIC, commercial papers, T-Bills, money market accounts, saving accounts, Certificate of Deposits, and so on. These are comparatively safe investment products.

If your risk appetite is a bit higher, you can invest in products like mutual funds, stocks, and real estate. It must be noted that there are various ways to invest in each of these products. For instance, you can invest in real estate by investing in REIT (Real estate Investment Trust), Real Estate Funds, Property, Rental Property, and so on.

For people who want to seek high profit and are ready to take bigger risk, products like stocks and derivatives are probably the best options. Specialized knowledge, however, is required to gain from these products. Stock may be further divided into aggressive growth stocks, common stocks, and American Depository Receipts. Derivatives too can be divided into futures and options.

Financial Investment Planning wouldn’t happen just by itself. It requires enormous planning, proper implementation, efficient follow-up, and essential redesigning. There is, however, a popular myth that investment is for rich people. Rich or poor, every one wants a secured future. Every individual is vulnerable to financial emergencies, and one must always be prepared to face it. And there is no right age to start investment planning. Even if you are nearing retirement, you must start investing. However, the early you start, the better it would be for you.

For information regarding the Financial Investment Planning. Please check our blog at http://www.financialculture.com/

Choosing an asset allocation, or the mix of stocks, bonds and cash in a portfolio, is the most important decision that you’ll face as an investor. A study by Ibbotson Associates concluded that asset allocation decisions determine about 100 percent of investment performance for those who follow a low-cost, long-term investing strategy. Similarly, according to a Dalbar and Associates study, many investors underperform the market because they deviate from their asset allocation plan during market downturns. Investors who want to maximize their long-term investment returns must develop a risk-appropriate asset allocation plan that they can stick with in good times and bad.

Asset Allocation Step 1: Evaluate Your Risk Profile

A reliable, long-term asset allocation plan starts with a thorough understanding of your risk profile. It’s helpful to think of your risk profile in two parts: your risk capacity, or the degree of portfolio volatility that you can absorb financially, and your risk attitude, or your emotional tolerance for risk.

Risk capacity is influenced by factors like income and net worth, but its largest determinant is time horizon. Early in life, when retirement is far off, your future earning potential can be thought of as a sizable bond, allowing you to allocate the majority of your retirement portfolio to more volatile equity investments. As you grow older and your future earning potential decreases, it’s important to replace those bond-like expected earnings with a higher percentage of bonds in your portfolio. By the time you retire, most of your investments should be in bonds in order to provide a reliable, low-volatility source of income.

Risk attitude is more difficult to quantify than risk capacity, especially for first-time investors who haven’t experienced difficult market conditions. Many investors make the mistake of failing to understand their risk attitude until a market downturn occurs. This usually leads to selling equity investments at the worst time (the bottom of the market), only to miss out on a subsequent market rebound. To help avoid this phenomenon, investors can use resources like risk questionnaires and historical performance charts to help find a stock/bond mix with an emotionally acceptable level of volatility. These tools are far from perfect, however, so when in doubt, it’s best to err on the side of conservatism.

Generally speaking, your most conservative risk dimension (capacity or attitude) should determine your portfolio’s equity/bond split. For example, if you have the risk capacity to handle a portfolio of 80% equities, but can only stomach the volatility of a 70% equity portfolio, you should choose the more conservative allocation. Developing a plan that you can stick with in good times and bad is much more important than maximizing your expected return.

Asset Allocation Step 2: Break Down Equities and Bonds

Once you’ve settled on a risk-appropriate stock/bond mix, you can think about subdividing the equity and fixed income portions of your portfolio. The key to this part of the asset allocation process is finding a suitable tradeoff between simplicity and maximum expected return.

Modern Portfolio Theory tells us that by adding volatile asset classes that don’t move in lockstep with the rest of our investments, we can increase our portfolio’s risk-adjusted return. Based on that principle, consider adding international stocks and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to your equity portfolio. Companies outside of the US represent more than half of the value of global equity markets, and investors have historically been compensated for the risks that accompany international investing. Likewise, REITs offer a great diversification benefit and give investors unique exposure to the commercial real estate market.

Within your US and international stock allocation, you may also want to boost your exposure to small company and value investments, as investors have historically been compensated for the risks inherent in these investing styles. If you’re not familiar with the arguments for overweighting these equity segments, however, you should probably steer clear of them in favor of simplicity.

To expand your fixed income allocation beyond a broad sampling of the US Bond Market, consider adding Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and municipal bonds. TIPS are unique because, unlike traditional bonds, their principal and interest payments adjust with inflation, so they offer a government-guaranteed rate of return above inflation when held to maturity. Municipal bonds are appropriate for investors in high tax brackets with taxable investment accounts, as the interest from these bonds is generally tax-exempt in the issuing state and at the federal level.

Portfolios can be sliced and diced in any number of ways, but a more complex portfolio is not necessarily a better one. Wise investors understand that their investing success will largely be determined by their ability to stick with their asset allocation plan, and for that reason, they err on the side of simplicity.

Asset Allocation Step 3: Implement Your Plan

Once you’ve broken down your portfolio into target percentages, all that remains is to implement your asset allocation plan. With literally thousands of funds to choose from, it’s best to narrow down the field by focusing on one factor that you can control: investing costs.

First, you can minimize the impact of many fees, expenses and taxes by investing in low-cost index funds and ETFs. If your workplace retirement account has limited choices, simply pick the lowest cost funds that fill a position in your asset allocation plan. Secondly, pay close attention to all applicable fees and commissions prior to doing business with a brokerage firm or mutual fund company. IRAs and other investment accounts are extremely portable, so there’s no good reason to stick with a high-commission broker. Finally, maximize your portfolio’s after-tax returns by placing tax-inefficient asset classes (e.g., REITs, Bonds) in tax-sheltered accounts.

Once you’ve settled on specific investment choices, help yourself stay on track by formally documenting your asset allocation plan in an Investment Policy Statement (IPS). This document provides an organized framework for recording your investing goals, philosophy and target allocation so that you can help yourself resist the temptation to stray from your long-term strategy. The ideal time to draft an IPS is while the rationale for your asset allocation decision is fresh in your mind.

Conclusion

More than any other factor, your ability to develop and implement a risk-appropriate asset allocation plan will determine your investing success. By thoroughly evaluating your investing risk profile, choosing an appropriate level of portfolio complexity, and picking low-cost investments, you’ve taken a giant step toward your long-term investment goals.

George Watkins is President of West Wind Wealth Management, an independent, SEC-registered investment advisory firm that specializes in index fund and ETF portfolios. A former nuclear-trained Naval Officer, George has a BS in Economics from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. To receive a free asset allocation recommendation or a personalized portfolio recommendation for as little as $19, visit http://www.invest-it-yourself.com.

Investing your money is probably the best use of funds you own. However, if it is invested in various financial products without proper research, you can lose every thing you owe. Hence, the process of financial investment starts with effective planning and research.

But you cannot start with financial investment planning if you don’t have a specific goal in mind. Hence, one of the foremost requirements is ascertaining a goal. It can be either of the two goals mentioned below:

- Conservation of existing funds
- Growth of existing funds
- Or both of them

What you do with the money you conserved or grew depends on your personal preferences. Unfortunately, not many people have goals in their mind before investing their money. Hence, they money they create or conserve is misused often. Financial investment planning involves going through a step-by-step process. Let us have a look at it.

- Setting goals
- Analyze your risk taking ability
- Asset Allocation or portfolio designing
- Select investment products that suits your needs
- Regular monitoring of your investment
- Redesigning your portfolio when necessary

This is one of the money processes to go about investing your funds. You can alter this process according to your needs. This is, however, a very broad one and may be applicable to every individual.

Just knowing the process isn’t important. You must know about all the available investment options and know which one to invest in.

If you don’t intend to take much of risk, you can invest your money in cash products or cash equivalent products like currency, bank balances, money orders, coins, GIC, commercial papers, T-Bills, money market accounts, saving accounts, Certificate of Deposits, and so on. These are comparatively safe investment products.

If your risk appetite is a bit higher, you can invest in products like mutual funds, stocks, and real estate. It must be noted that there are various ways to invest in each of these products. For instance, you can invest in real estate by investing in REIT (Real estate Investment Trust), Real Estate Funds, Property, Rental Property, and so on.

For people who want to seek high profit and are ready to take bigger risk, products like stocks and derivatives are probably the best options. Specialized knowledge, however, is required to gain from these products. Stock may be further divided into aggressive growth stocks, common stocks, and American Depository Receipts. Derivatives too can be divided into futures and options.

Financial Investment Planning wouldn’t happen just by itself. It requires enormous planning, proper implementation, efficient follow-up, and essential redesigning. There is, however, a popular myth that investment is for rich people. Rich or poor, every one wants a secured future. Every individual is vulnerable to financial emergencies, and one must always be prepared to face it. And there is no right age to start investment planning. Even if you are nearing retirement, you must start investing. However, the early you start, the better it would be for you.

For information regarding the Financial Investment Planning. Please check our blog at http://www.financialculture.com/

Choosing an asset allocation, or the mix of stocks, bonds and cash in a portfolio, is the most important decision that you’ll face as an investor. A study by Ibbotson Associates concluded that asset allocation decisions determine about 100 percent of investment performance for those who follow a low-cost, long-term investing strategy. Similarly, according to a Dalbar and Associates study, many investors underperform the market because they deviate from their asset allocation plan during market downturns. Investors who want to maximize their long-term investment returns must develop a risk-appropriate asset allocation plan that they can stick with in good times and bad.

Asset Allocation Step 1: Evaluate Your Risk Profile

A reliable, long-term asset allocation plan starts with a thorough understanding of your risk profile. It’s helpful to think of your risk profile in two parts: your risk capacity, or the degree of portfolio volatility that you can absorb financially, and your risk attitude, or your emotional tolerance for risk.

Risk capacity is influenced by factors like income and net worth, but its largest determinant is time horizon. Early in life, when retirement is far off, your future earning potential can be thought of as a sizable bond, allowing you to allocate the majority of your retirement portfolio to more volatile equity investments. As you grow older and your future earning potential decreases, it’s important to replace those bond-like expected earnings with a higher percentage of bonds in your portfolio. By the time you retire, most of your investments should be in bonds in order to provide a reliable, low-volatility source of income.

Risk attitude is more difficult to quantify than risk capacity, especially for first-time investors who haven’t experienced difficult market conditions. Many investors make the mistake of failing to understand their risk attitude until a market downturn occurs. This usually leads to selling equity investments at the worst time (the bottom of the market), only to miss out on a subsequent market rebound. To help avoid this phenomenon, investors can use resources like risk questionnaires and historical performance charts to help find a stock/bond mix with an emotionally acceptable level of volatility. These tools are far from perfect, however, so when in doubt, it’s best to err on the side of conservatism.

Generally speaking, your most conservative risk dimension (capacity or attitude) should determine your portfolio’s equity/bond split. For example, if you have the risk capacity to handle a portfolio of 80% equities, but can only stomach the volatility of a 70% equity portfolio, you should choose the more conservative allocation. Developing a plan that you can stick with in good times and bad is much more important than maximizing your expected return.

Asset Allocation Step 2: Break Down Equities and Bonds

Once you’ve settled on a risk-appropriate stock/bond mix, you can think about subdividing the equity and fixed income portions of your portfolio. The key to this part of the asset allocation process is finding a suitable tradeoff between simplicity and maximum expected return.

Modern Portfolio Theory tells us that by adding volatile asset classes that don’t move in lockstep with the rest of our investments, we can increase our portfolio’s risk-adjusted return. Based on that principle, consider adding international stocks and Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) to your equity portfolio. Companies outside of the US represent more than half of the value of global equity markets, and investors have historically been compensated for the risks that accompany international investing. Likewise, REITs offer a great diversification benefit and give investors unique exposure to the commercial real estate market.

Within your US and international stock allocation, you may also want to boost your exposure to small company and value investments, as investors have historically been compensated for the risks inherent in these investing styles. If you’re not familiar with the arguments for overweighting these equity segments, however, you should probably steer clear of them in favor of simplicity.

To expand your fixed income allocation beyond a broad sampling of the US Bond Market, consider adding Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) and municipal bonds. TIPS are unique because, unlike traditional bonds, their principal and interest payments adjust with inflation, so they offer a government-guaranteed rate of return above inflation when held to maturity. Municipal bonds are appropriate for investors in high tax brackets with taxable investment accounts, as the interest from these bonds is generally tax-exempt in the issuing state and at the federal level.

Portfolios can be sliced and diced in any number of ways, but a more complex portfolio is not necessarily a better one. Wise investors understand that their investing success will largely be determined by their ability to stick with their asset allocation plan, and for that reason, they err on the side of simplicity.

Asset Allocation Step 3: Implement Your Plan

Once you’ve broken down your portfolio into target percentages, all that remains is to implement your asset allocation plan. With literally thousands of funds to choose from, it’s best to narrow down the field by focusing on one factor that you can control: investing costs.

First, you can minimize the impact of many fees, expenses and taxes by investing in low-cost index funds and ETFs. If your workplace retirement account has limited choices, simply pick the lowest cost funds that fill a position in your asset allocation plan. Secondly, pay close attention to all applicable fees and commissions prior to doing business with a brokerage firm or mutual fund company. IRAs and other investment accounts are extremely portable, so there’s no good reason to stick with a high-commission broker. Finally, maximize your portfolio’s after-tax returns by placing tax-inefficient asset classes (e.g., REITs, Bonds) in tax-sheltered accounts.

Once you’ve settled on specific investment choices, help yourself stay on track by formally documenting your asset allocation plan in an Investment Policy Statement (IPS). This document provides an organized framework for recording your investing goals, philosophy and target allocation so that you can help yourself resist the temptation to stray from your long-term strategy. The ideal time to draft an IPS is while the rationale for your asset allocation decision is fresh in your mind.

Conclusion

More than any other factor, your ability to develop and implement a risk-appropriate asset allocation plan will determine your investing success. By thoroughly evaluating your investing risk profile, choosing an appropriate level of portfolio complexity, and picking low-cost investments, you’ve taken a giant step toward your long-term investment goals.

George Watkins is President of West Wind Wealth Management, an independent, SEC-registered investment advisory firm that specializes in index fund and ETF portfolios. A former nuclear-trained Naval Officer, George has a BS in Economics from Duke University and an MBA from Harvard Business School. To receive a free asset allocation recommendation or a personalized portfolio recommendation for as little as $19, visit http://www.invest-it-yourself.com.

Background

A Life Insurance Investment Bond is widely available for you to invest in. As with many investments, there are advantages and disadvantages to using this form of tax wrapper.

One of the main points to bear in mind is that the tax wrapper status of any financial product dictates how much tax you will/won’t pay on the investment at outset, during and at the end of the term.

It is the actual funds where the money is invested that determines how much you will get back when the plan matures or you cash it in.

One of the main advantages of the Life Insurance Investment Bond, either onshore or offshore, is that you are able to withdraw up to 5% of the amount invested each policy year without triggering what is known as a ‘chargeable event gain’.

Whilst this defers any tax liability to the future (it may not avoid any further tax due), the good news is that each 5% allowance is cumulative therefore and can be carried forward each policy year. For example, if no withdrawals are made in years one to four 25% can be drawn in year five.

You are not able to take more than the amount invested over the lifetime of the bond, therefore if you withdraw 5% per annum the maximum time period for these withdrawals is 20 years.

HMRC treat withdrawals as a withdrawal of capital and if the amounts are kept within the tax deferred allowance there is no need for you to declare them on their tax returns.

As tax on the withdrawals are deferred until the bond or policy segments are surrendered you can defer tax until the most suitable time for your circumstances.

5% Withdrawals

The 5% tax deferred allowance provides a gross equivalent income of 6.25% for a basic rate tax payer, 8.33% for a higher rate tax payer and 10% for a 50% tax payer.

To reiterate though, (and before you get carried away) remember that withdrawals from the bond are tax deferred and not tax free!

It is possible to extend the number of years that you can take tax deferred withdrawals by taking less than the 5%.

For example, if you take 4% per annum then this can be continued for 25 years without any immediate tax charge.

Reducing Taxable Income

As the withdrawals are treated as a withdrawal of capital they can be helpful when trying to keep your income below certain levels.

Some clients, or their spouse / partner, may have income that hovers around the ‘age allowance trap’ area.

If you are aged 65 or over you have a higher personal allowance, however, this is reduced where taxable income exceeds a certain limit. The limit for 2010/11 is £22,900 and for each £2 of income above this limit the personal allowance will reduce by £1 until it falls to the standard levels.

The withdrawals from a bond do not count towards income for these purposes and so can be useful for providing additional ‘income’ whilst maintaining the higher allowances. This is in contrast with other investments, ie deposits, shares, unit trusts and OEICs where the interest or dividends will be added to your income and taxed accordingly.

Looking at an example, John is 67 and has pension income of £22,000 in the tax year 2010/11. He also has £200,000 on deposit which pays him 3% gross interest, ie £6,000 in the tax year.

This means his total income of £28,000 takes him over the age related allowance of £22,900 by £5,100. His age related allowance will therefore be reduced by one half of this amount, £2,550, bringing it down from £9,490 to £6,940.

If he had invested the £200,000 in an Offshore Investment Bond he can take withdrawals of 2.4% giving him annual ‘income’ equivalent to the net interest from his deposits.

He would have saved £1,710 in tax in the current tax year by maintaining his entire age related allowance (£2,550 x 20%) and deferring the 20% tax on the interest (£6,000 x 20%).

He would also have the flexibility to increase these withdrawals in future years and have potential for some capital growth.

Of course, tax will be payable when a chargeable event is triggered, however, if a lower withdrawal rate is used this can be delayed for some time.

Summary

It is important to bear in mind that we have only looked at one or two factors of Investment Bonds in this article and you should take professional advice before you make any important financial decisions.

Our view is that you should always weigh up the pros and cons of any investment in line with your individual circumstances before you proceed.

The Financial Tips Bottom Line

Investment Bonds, whether onshore or offshore, can offer valuable benefits to investors as part of an overall investment programme.

Alongside these products, you should also consider other mainstream offerings such as personal pensions, ISAs, unit trusts, deposit savings and investment trusts.

Ray Prince is a fee based Certified Financial Planner with Rutherford Wilkinson ltd, and helps UK Resident Doctors and Dentists plan to achieve their financial objectives. Just visit http://www.medicaldentalfs.com where you can request your free retirement planning guide.

Rutherford Wilkinson ltd is authorised and regulated by the Financial Services Authority.

It is difficult to go just about anywhere without hearing about green these days. It is hard to say whether people are just happy to use as a means of getting more business or if society really does care more about the planet, but the fact of the matter is that positive changes are being put in place to improve the impact we have. One place you might not have realized you can make a difference is with your investments.

Green investing is the act of investing money into companies, properties, etc that are involved in sustainable practices is some way. There are no set guidelines at this point, but various fund managers set their own guidelines of just how green a company needs to be for access to their money. For example, a green investment fund might target companies that are working on technologies to improve the environment.

Other than these green mutual funds, there are also green bonds and green real estate to invest in. With green bonds, the government set up guidelines around what kind of energy is being used for a project and if it is redeveloping a brownfield as a guideline. By investing a green bond you can steer companies towards green projects because it is where the money is. Investing in green real estate investment trusts, you put your money into properties that have proven themselves to be above the norm in terms of sustainability.

The art of green investing is still in its infancy but there are many ways for just about anyone to get involved. If you feel you have done everything you can by reducing your own energy consumption or overall footprint, putting your investments into sustainability as well might be a good decision that makes you feel good as well.

Find out more about green investing at Green Investing Times

Are you looking for a really useful stock market trading tip? Keep reading because in this article I am going to give you some great stock market advice.

Ever heard the expression, “they’re not building anymore land” The point of this expression is – if you want to make money own property. Sadly owning property is beyond the reach of most people, luckily there is an alternative.

This alternative is R.E.I.T’s (real estate investment trust). So what is a R.E.I.T? Basically it’s a trust company which buys, develops, manages and sell’s property. By buying stock in a R.E.I.T you are buying a portion of a pool of real estate.

Buying shares in a R.E.I.T has many advantages some of them are

· If you buy shares in a R.E.I.T you are essentially buying pieces of property i.e. physical assets with long expected life spans and income potential through rent.

· R.E.I.T ’s allow the man on the street who does not have vast amounts of capital to invest in property.

· Because the funds of these trusts are pooled together there is a large amount of diversification going on

When picking a R.E.I.T you should do your homework, here are a few tips to help you.

· Good management – when picking a R.E.I.T to invest in you should know the management team and their track record.

· Diversification – it is important that the R.E.I.T you invest in is properly diversified, owning too much of one kind of real estate can cause big problems.

This article should give you a good overview of real estate investment trusts, if you found this stock market trading tip useful please visit my website by following the links below.

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