Investment Articles

Investors are increasingly forced to choose from a proliferation of investment options. They also have to deal with contradictory advice on how to achieve their financial goals and how to invest the savings they have accumulated during their lifetime. If you consider that there are more than 7 000 mutual funds available in the United States alone, and thousands of insurance products worldwide, making the choice that will satisfy them ever after is daunting, to say the least.

No wonder people so often ask the rather general question: Which investment is best? The first part of the answer is easy: No single investment is ‘the best’ under all circumstances for all investors. Personal circumstances, goals and different people’s needs differ, as do the characteristics of different investments. Secondly, one asset class’s strength in certain circumstances could be another’s weakness. It is therefore important to compare investments according to relevant criteria. The art is to find the appropriate investment for each objective and need.

The following are the most important criteria:

the goal of the investment
the risk the investor can handle
liquidity required
taxability of the investment
the period until the financial goal is reached
last but not least, the cost of the investment.

THE GOAL

Goals determine the characteristics sought in an investment. You will be in a position to choose the most appropriate investment only when you have decided on your short-, medium- and long-term goals. The following generic goals are normally involved:

Emergency fund

Emergency fund money should be readily available when needed, and the value of the fund should be equal to about six months’ income. Money market funds are excellent for this purpose. While these funds do not perform much higher than inflation, their benefit is that capital is saved and is easily accessible.

If you already have a ready emergency fund covering more than six months’ income, you could consider a more aggressive mutual fund

Capital protection

If your primary aim is capital protection, you will have to be satisfied with a lower growth rate on the investment. Those above 50 are normally advised to be conservative in their investment approach. While this may for the most part be sound advice, you should also keep an eye on the risk of inflation, so that the purchasing power of your money does not depreciate. It is not the nominal value of the capital that should be protected, but the inflation-adjusted one. At an annual inflation rate of 6%, $1 million today will buy the same as $156 255 in 30 years’ time. A 50 year-old with %1 million would therefore have to lower his living standard substantially if he only retains the &1 million until he was 80.

Income

Conservative investments like those listed above should form the normal basis for providing an income. Because of inflation risk, investments should be structured so that they can at least keep up with inflation. This means that at least a percentage of the investment source providing the income should be made up of other asset classes like property and equity mutual funds. The percentage would differ according to individual and economic circumstances.

Investors fortunate enough to have their basic budget provided for by a conservative fund could consider increasing their income with commercial property funds and tax-free income from dividends paid out by listed shares.

Capital growth

If an investor’s primary goal is to achieve capital growth, the real rate of return should be higher than inflation. This implies greater risk to capital in the short term. Investors aiming at capital growth should not be apprehensive, as they will reap the rewards in the long term.

The history of equity prices over the past 100 years proves equity investments to be the best performer, followed by property. This does not mean you should buy either of these investments blindfolded. Wait until the quality shares in which you are interested are trading at inexpensive price levels.

RISK

The investment with a history of the highest growth is not necessarily the one to choose. The Standard Bank’s Gold Fund increased by 178% during the period 13 August 2001 – 24 May 2002 (284 days). Judging only on the growth of the fund during this period, it performed exceptionally well. But would it be the right investment for a retiree? During the 805 days following this, the same fund experienced a negative growth rate of 44%! The problem with an investment that decreases by this percentage is that it will not reach its previous peak by increasing again by 44%. This is because the growth this time will take place from a lower base, so in fact the investment would have to increase by approximately 80%.

LIQUIDITY

Hard assets like Persian carpets, works of art and antique furniture may be good investments in the long term, but unfortunately they are not very liquid. The same is true of certain shares in smaller companies. Money market funds, on the other hand, are very liquid, but the returns may not always be as good as those from other investments. The need to liquidise the investment quickly is therefore also a criterion to consider when evaluating investments.

TAXABILITY

The taxability of an investment has a considerable impact on its value to the investor. When comparing the returns on different investments, the return after tax has been deducted should be used. The investor should always ask what will be left in his pocket after tax deduction.

PERIOD

Conservative investments with no potential for high returns are suitable for shorter periods, while investment-objectives with longer time horizons aspire to achieving higher returns. Money market funds are suitable for periods of one or two years. Income and conservative asset allocation funds for three or four years and flexible asset allocation funds, commercial property funds and value equity funds may be chosen for longer periods, dependent on the economic and interest cycle and the propensity of the investor to accept risk.

COSTS

The costs involved in an investment are normally things like administrative cost and commission. The percentage of the costs to the investment amount directly affects the value of the investment. Many of the currently available investment products are structured in such a way that investors can negotiate commission.

CONCLUSION

No investment strategy blueprint is going to be perfect for everyone’s circumstances. Investment opportunities should therefore be examined critically before any decision is made. It should also be kept in mind that there are different companies managing specific funds under the investment categories referred to above. Some are more effectively managed than others. Investors should therefore research investments as well as the managers thoroughly before investing. Otherwise, they could appoint professional asset managers to do so on their behalf. Time spent determining the type of investment you really need is time invested in your future financial well-being.

Dr. Manus Moolman has done extensive research on the issues of investing and wealth creation. He is dedicated to assist anyone, from laymen to professional traders, to invest successfully and become rich.

Want to contact him? Then please visit his website at: http://www.myebroker.info/.

When we are talking about investment, this word has been heard often enough. A lot of people or friends do not really understand what investment is and desperate to start investing without knowing the contents of their investments. Be careful. You may experience losses instead of profits.

Investment is a concept commonly done in the financial world in order to develop the value of money. Development is represented in the form of return or interest.

A good investment product is a product that suits to your needs and your character. It is not all of investment products are suitable and necessary need at once. You have to understand of how the product will deliver the maximum benefit and risks that may arise.

Deposit Account.

This product is commonly used by those who has a risk-tend of more conservative or safe (with fixed interest and protect the initial), as compared with other investment products. The period is very diverse, typically 3, 6, or 12 months. If you try to withdraw before its due date, you will be penalized.

Although this type of investment is less able to compensate for the inflation rate, the deposit is still required and can be utilized in the process of financial planning. This product is suitable for storing the funds that will be required within one year.

Gold – Precious Metals

There are gold bullion and jewelry. The difference is, when you are buying gold jewelry; you are buying a gram of gold plus the difficulty of manufacture. When you are willing to sell it back, the ‘difficulty value’ is not counted. Thus, for investment purpose, certified gold bullion is much better.

Property

Property investment has been recognized for long. Currently, the attraction of property is not only land, but also houses, townhouses, apartments, villas, and other residential properties. The most crucial thing when investing in property is location.

Stock

When deciding to begin to invest in stocks, you must commit to have it in the long term, 5 years-10 years. If you only intend to purchase in the short term and make a profit on the price difference, then you are not investors, but your are a trader or broker.

Stock investment is more suitable for those in young age. Why? It is because the stock is an investment product for the long term. Stocks often need more time to develop.

This investment has the principle of high risk, high return. Perform an analysis of companies with the potential to grow continuously in the future.

Mutual Funds

There are four conventional mutual fund products: money market funds, fixed income funds, mixed funds, and stock or equity funds.

Mutual funds help the investors, especially beginners, who have limited funds, time, and knowledge to investing directly into stock. The important thing is the suitability of types of mutual funds with a risk profile and your financial planning goals.

Have a successful investing in 2012! Have fun with your money!

* Analyze your Personal Financial Planning before choosing an investment type.

There’s no doubt that recent news about certain silver age key issue comics breaking sales records and going for six figures has caught the attention of the public and many investors. The question of “Are comic books good investments” have been asked many of times by new speculators in comic investing.

However, the truth is that those comic books that have sold for ridiculous prices are what’s called “Pedigree Comics” in the comic book industry. That means that they are the highest graded books of a certain issue. Silver age comics are rare as opposed to bronze age comics or modern age comics. However, those at NM or a high near mint are extremely rare.

The truth is that these books are extremely hard to come by. A few lucky collectors during the 70s and, perhaps, 80s paid top dollar for these books at the time, stored them safely, and then later had them graded by CGC. They had the foresight to see a comic’s potential value decades earlier.

But what about now?

It’s true that the demand for silver age comic books are high right now. Certain silver age key issues are selling extremely strong in all grades. It’s true that most right now are gunning for the high grade books. As life teaches us, everything that comes up must come down.

No, I”m not talking about the value of silver age comics dropping. I’m talking about the market’s current demand for high grade silver age books flattening out. The normal, average collector, cannot afford $100,000 for a single comic book. That’s the cost of two homes in certain parts of the country. Ridiculous!

What I foresee happening with comic investing, and many experts agree with me, is an increased interest and demand for lower grade silver era comics. Grades at VG and even mid grade comics will start to pick up dramatically, because the higher grades are way too expensive.

If you think about it, many collectors started looking towards silver age comics as comic investments when high grade golden age comics became too expensive. Now, even though silver key issues are still in demand, many average collectors and comic investors are buying lower grades of both silver and golden age books.

This trend will continue and increase in the coming years. Lower grade books as long term comic investments is a wise choice, as comic book movies are rapidly pushing demand for these silver age key issues.

What are the top comic books to invest in for 2012? Click the link to read more articles about comic investing and which comics you should have your sights on right now before they become too expensive to get in the future.

Love comic books? Visit my blog www.totalcomicmayhem.com for everything comic book related!

Have you ever thought of your future? Have you ever thought about ways on how to grow your savings? Have you ever put these two together: savings for your future?

Instead of spending your money on the latest gadget, shoes, or designer purses, why not familiarize yourself with safe investments that would generate profit in the long run? What if something bad happens to you, will you be able to pay for the bills incurred? Do not feel overconfident and satisfied with what you have in the present.

Investing your money somewhere else than a bank is a good option but is also a risky one. In any case, you must act and prepare now. Life is so short to be procrastinating and hanging around without a plan for the future.

One common way of investing money is stocks trading. The stocks market consists of complicated snakes and ladders, though. One wrong move will bring you down to the pit. So you must have a strong ground on the different concepts, trends and rules of stocks and dividends.

Every investor should aim for a high-performing portfolio. Learn how to build an investment portfolio to safeguard your money from potential losses. Your portfolio should be organized according to your risk tolerance and investment goals. Start early and invest on small amounts at first while you familiarize yourself and develop a goal and a strategy.

Investing your money on precious metals is also quite promising. Gold trading usually generates high profits for investors. Gold is considered more as a currency than a commodity. It is used as a hedge against currency devaluation. Silver, platinum, and bullion coins are good investments as well. Platinum is actually the most expensive precious metal. It is considered as the most valuable trading commodity. But unlike gold, platinum’s value decreases in times of economic crisis. When the economy is stable, platinum’s value is double the price of gold.

Moving your money around and learning how to make more money out of your existing reserves is more practical than having it sit in your bank account and gain little interest over time.

Developing sound saving habits at an early age is a good thing. Learning to invest your money on something that is deemed to be profitable will benefit you in due course.

Start saving and investing your money now so that it will grow into a healthy savings that would enable you to fund your future needs. Do not just settle for what you have now. Continue to learn new things. The world has a lot in stored for all of us. Every achievement takes patience and commitment.

Read more helpful business and Internet marketing advice from Louie Sioco’s blog.

An investment fund is a type of investment vehicle used to invest in the stock market. An investment fund is where the investor contributes a sum of money into that fund, which has already been invested into certain areas of the stock market. The idea is to minimise the risk by spreading the amount invested into several areas of the stock market at once.

This has the following advantages:

· Minimises risk to the investor as the fund will be configured to buy stocks and shares in different commodities.

· Can be configured on the basis of risk, so the more adventurous may look for a high risk, high return fund, while a more cautions investor may look for a low risk, low return fund.

· Avoids the scenario of putting your eggs in one basket, which many financial people would advise against doing.

· They are good for the inexperienced investor as they invest in many areas of the market.

It is worth remembering that stocks can do well one year and perform poorly the next.

Investment funds still require key decisions to be made, especially in the area of risk. Though some investment funds may be labelled as cautions, or low risk, they can still carry a significant risk of not making money in the stock market, and subsequently high risk funds may not carry as much risk as originally thought. This is due to the changing nature of the world economy, and one of the many reasons why the stock market is watched closely.

It is always a good idea to seek some kind of advice on financial matters, as the issues can be complex and difficult to grasp without guidance. The key here is to ensure you choose a financial advisor or investment company which is not just interested in your cash but wants to provide a good service. Some decisions should be made by the investor, and the investor alone as there is no need for outside interference. When choosing a good fund manager, ensure you choose one which basis their fee on the quality of service rather than making unnecessary decisions on your behalf.

Investment funds represent a good way to learn about investing and they are a good investment vehicle in their own right, especially as they are effectively a ready made financial portfolio. They are used by both the seasoned investor and the beginner, and offer value to both.

Investment funds often represent investors investments on a large scale.

Richard Teahon writes for Fundsnet.co.uk, which was founded by Chairman Simon Dixon, with a view to reduce the cost of financial investing. It offers a variety of financial products, including but not limited to stocks and shares ISAs, consultancy and advice, trust and pension investments, emerging markets, commodities, and unit trusts and OEICs. The product range was created to suit every type of investor.

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”

Reducing your risk during times of market volatility, or any time, can help preserve your portfolio. There are several ways you can achieve this while maintaining either an aggressive or conservative investment strategy.

A principle of investing is to minimize drawdown, the percentage your portfolio drops at any one time or between the market highs and the lows. If you invest with the buy and hold philosophy you will most likely experience dramatic drawdowns over the course of time, and while your portfolio may recover from these losses, if you need to cash out part or all of your money in the midst of these drops, you will suffer with big money losses. This is the underlying fault of the buy and hold concept.

The alternative to buy & hold is to be willing to trade and:

• Take profits• Cut losses to a minimum• Buy at the best opportunity

Using a good investment software program you should be able to set buy sell rules to help you reduce risk. Some of these rules may give you signals for when to simply get out of the markets, while others will help you avoid massive or even medium size losses (drawdowns).

Keys to risk reduction include:

• Standard Deviation – adding this type calculation to your analysis can help to reduce risk as sell signals are generated when a ticker drops too far from its “typical” deviation or up-down movement.

You can use standard deviation with many types of analysis: alpha, relative strength momentum, return…are just a few examples.

• Benchmark Exit – this signal will tell you when to quit investing and either move to cash or a safer position like bonds. The signal is triggered when a key index like the S&P 500 cuts down through its moving average (a moving average between 90 -150 seems to work best).

• Equity Curve – an equity curve based on a group of tickers can signal when to stop using a particular investment strategy set of buy sell rules. An equity curve uses the moving average of the strategies performance. A stop signal is generated when the performance line of the strategy cuts down thru the moving average line (a moving average of 100 works well in volatile times while 250 works during a long term upward running market).

You can even employ two or three of these risk reduction conceptions at the same time. You can have a strategy, for example, analyzing the performance of a group based on return with standard deviation and also look at the benchmark exit or the equity curve to be sure it is a good time to invest or a good time to use the particular strategy’s set of buy sell rules.

Author Raymond Dominick is the designer of Dynamic Investor Pro investment software for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. He has been investing in the markets since his teenage years. An experienced business manager and journalist, he has been a registered investment advisor representative, also a professional photographer who loves escaping to the wonders of Glacier National Park in Montana. View his software at: http://www.dynamicinvestorpro.com

I don’t think anyone ever has enough money and or makes enough money to satisfy ones self. I know I don’t have enough money nor do I make enough to satisfy my needs and want. So we need to figure out how to make enough money to satisfy our needs and wants. We need to look at many options on how to make money. How we use it, make it, spend it and save it. The key to the whole thing is to be able to save enough money so we can enjoy the latter years of our lives. Now how do we get to a point to where we can make enough money to take care of our everyday needs and still be able to save money. The answer is investing. We just have to figure out what to invest in. This can be difficult because there are so many things to invest in. Where do we start? How do we start? Hold on my friend we need to look at some options which there are may of them to choose from.

First lets start with the stock-market. You can make a lot of money in the stock-market if you have the right information, do some research and practice investing in the stock-market with play money. Meaning don’t start with real money unless you have experience doing so. Options are like stocks, bounds, mutual fund, T bills and so on. Other investments like real estate are good investment, there again if you are well-educated. I Invest in real estate it is not always easy and takes a lot of time to find the right property to invest in. If you are going to do real estate be careful and make sure you do your home work on each property you are planing to invest in.

Now my favorite investment is Affiliated-marketing It has low risk, low start-up and the money that can be made is unbelievable. Anyone can do this it isn’t hard at all. You just need to have a little self-confidence and motivation. With affiliated-marketing you can pick and choose what product you want to promote. You need to learn how to do it first. You can’t do anything until you are educated and I am trying to get you primed to do so. You can do it, I know you can Because If I can do it any one can. What ever you decide to invest in I wish you the best of luck.

Jonathan C. Drake

http://www.createcashmoney.com

There are many different philosophies about how to find good investments. Most people in the past have only invested in Mutual Funds or individual stocks. But now, there is a much better alternative than Mutual Funds called Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) or ETF funds. ETFs will work much better for most retirement investing and investors. The ETFs provide simplicity, trading ease, low entry fees, no penalties or required holding times, better tax advantages, deeper and more targeted selection offerings, and smaller money entry requirements (i.e, ETF funds don’t have minimum buy-entries like $2,500 or much higher). I recommend beginners or self-investors take a serious look at using ETFs for investing because they are simply very good investments.

If you are anxious to start growing your nest egg again or for the first time, then get started the right way by purchasing a list of diversified ETF funds. Make sure to be steady with your monthly contributions to as many positions as you can in order to minimize market downturns and economic recessions over time through cost averaging. Hopefully, the markets and world economies are on the mend and will start their slow climb back up from here. This European debt crisis will pass and scaling in with buys during times of fear and uncertainty will always be rewarding for the patient investor.

It is very important to have balance and diversification in your investment portfolio. Dividing your positions between domestic and world stock market equities with dividends; a variety of bonds; alternative investments; targeted growth equities and sectors; precious metals, commodities, and natural resources; high-yield income; and some real estate should be a good starting point.

A big advantage of using ETF funds for most investors is that very small amounts of money can be used to get started. The important thing is to get back into the market and to be consistent no matter how much money you use or how long it takes for you to build out the entire portfolio.

Start by putting some money into a variety of fairly safe and diversified dividend paying equity ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds). The ones I think are the top ETFs to buy for growth and income are:

1) DVY – IShares Dow Jones Select Dividend Index – invests in select safe and diversified dividend paying companies with a dividend yield around 3.5%. Top 5 Holdings: Lorillard, Inc (LO).; Entergy Corporation (ETR); V.F. Corporation (MCY); CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL).; Chevron Corporation (CVX)

2) SDY – SPDR S&P Dividend – invests in S&P 500 dividend paying companies with a dividend yield around 3.4%. Top 5 Holdings: Pitney Bowes Inc. (PBI); CenturyLink, Inc. (CTL); HCP Inc. (HCP); Consolidated Edison, Inc. (ED); Eli Lilly and Company Common (LLY)

3) VIG – Vanguard Dividend Appreciation – invests in dividend paying companies based on the Mergent Dividend Achievers Select Index with a dividend yield around 2.2%. Top 5 Holdings: Wells Fargo (WFC); Chevron Corp (CVX); McDonald’s Corp (MCD); Pepsico (PEP); Conoco Phillips (COP)

4) DWX – SPDR International Dividend – invests in worldwide list of dividend paying companies with a dividend yield around 6.0%. Top 5 Holdings: Tele2 Ab; Telesp Tel Sao Paulo; ASX Ltd; RWE Ag; OrientO/Seas Intl

5) PID – Powershares Intl Dividend Achievers – invests primarily in international ADRS with a dividend yield around 3.5%. Top 5 Holdings: Partner Comm Co (PTNR); Philippine Long Distance (PHI); Telefonica SA (TEF); Teekay LNG Partners LP (TGP); National Grid PLC (NGG)

ETF funds trade just like stocks so they can be easily bought and sold with any discount broker online and the fees are very small. Start with a small initial investment into each of them and then add money every month or on market weakness while also using the accumulated dividends to buy more over time. It has been shown throughout stock market history that dividends account for over 40% of the total market’s return, that index type funds outperform most money managers, and that reinvesting your dividend proceeds are a sound way to grow your returns.

Investing in times of uncertainty and fear present good buying opportunities if you scale in on market pullbacks. Be patient and invest consistently over time and you will be rewarded with big returns. You will discover that ETFs are very good investments for growing your retirement.

You can get plenty more great stock ideas from our very popular subscription services. We help make trading and investing easy and extremely profitable. Let us do all of the work for you with our model portfolios and hot list swing trading and investing ideas. Our seven year track record using proven fundamental and technical analysis techniques at http://www.momentumrider.com is unmatched for market beating results.

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How can you tell the economy will get better? What about good buy opportunities in the market? Do they always exist?

There are many answers to these questions. Sometimes events cloud the overall picture. Sometimes there may not be good investments but getting prepared to make an investment is just as important.

If the markets are down and nothing looks good, but a major company announces they are buying another company or pouring money into a new project, that company is saying, “we think the future is great.” Does it mean you should buy that company or an ETF or fund holding that company, no, not necessarily. But you should view the news as a sign that some people in the business world see a strong future. On the other hand if there are multiple reports about different companies taking similar action then maybe, even if the markets are down or dismal, it is a time to be taking your own stake in the future.

Most news on the front page or TV is negative if not downright bad news. This makes it difficult to detach your emotions from seeing good or positive news and indicators pointing to opportunities. In this respect all the different books and articles about positive thinking are equally important to manage your investment portfolio. Without a positive and open attitude you may miss the news report that could result in either an immediate or future investment.

Some of the obvious ways to gauge the future of the economy come from the various economic reports that are release every week: housing sales, consumer confidence, inflation, and the list goes on and on. Many of these reports are good. Unfortunately the headlines about these reports are usually based on the first two paragraphs and not the entire report. Many times a report may sound negative but upon reading down into the nitty gritty you will find evidence of positive aspects.

What it amounts to is simple but often befuddling: be willing to look past today’s negative news to find indicators of the future. Look at the trends in your investment analysis software program so you are prepared to buy when the time is right. If you are using a software program this doesn’t mean just watching a single chart, but the trends of different groups or sectors of the markets and different charts to see how the all correlate and where they are pointing.

Check out an equity chart for your group or the S&P 500, perhaps with a 100 day setting to see what type of signal this chart is generating.

If you are keeping you mind grounded with solid facts and information you will almost always find there are investment opportunities and if there are none that meet your goals with your risk basis, you will be better prepared to act when the time is right.

Author Raymond Dominick is the designer of Dynamic Investor Pro investment software for stocks, ETFs and mutual funds. He has been investing in the markets since his teenage years. An experienced business manager and journalist, he has been a registered investment advisor representative, also a professional photographer who loves escaping to the wonders of Glacier National Park in Montana.

View his software at: http://www.dynamicinvestorpro.com