Investment Articles

Investing in property, be it residential, commercial, agricultural, leisure, healthcare, student accommodation or some other niche property sector, is ostensibly the most popular and common form of alternative investment, and has been used as a low risk, long-term investment asset by many Investors. The main aim of the property investor is to capture income from rentals, and/or capital growth either through natural attrition or by adding capital value through development. Whatever the form or sector, property investments are solid, tangible and ‘real’ in that a property is unlikely to depreciate in the long term provided due care and consideration is given to due diligence in the acquisition stage.

Investment Strategy

The traditional form of property investment is the simple leveraged buy to let, where an Investor will acquire a property using a combination of cash and mortgage debt, and seek to cover the mortgage costs with rental income. This strategy is ideal for the long-term Investor with ample time to allow the rentals to completely pay off any mortgage debt. Older Investors should be wary of taking on long-term debt to fund property acquisitions. The buy to let strategy can be applied to residential, commercial, agricultural and other sectors including student accommodation and healthcare properties.

A more opportunistic approach is to identify and acquire distressed assets at heavy discounts, and aim to resell quickly in the open market in order to capture the inherent profit. This strategy removes the long-term financial liability associated with property ownership, and also removes reliance on capital growth as the main driver for profit.

Land development and planning are also valid property investment strategies, although these are often large and complex projects and not suitable for inexperienced Investors. One way for smaller Investors to participate in property development is to buy off-plan, where they receive a discount for agreeing to purchase the property before it is built, this again capture inherent profit, and the investor may choose to sell the property on completion of the building works, or they may choose to rent the property out. Other options for Investors seeking exposure to development property are smaller developments or refurbishments involving the renovation of property in order to add value.

Each strategy carries its own set of risks, and Investors considering adding property exposure to their portfolio should consider their end goals, be it income, growth or both, and seek out investment opportunities likely to deliver on those goals. As always, due diligence is required in the research, investment planning and acquisition phases of property investment, and often Investor will require expert help for legal and property professionals in order to properly identify the risks associated with the property or project in front of them.

David Garner is Partner at DGC Asset Management, an alternative investments boutique specialising in alternative property transactions in the real estate and natural resources sectors.

A call option will essentially give you the right to acquire a specific underlying stock, at a particular rate whereas a put option gives you the rights to dispose off any underlying stock at a particular rate. Each and every owner of any option contract is free to exercise it, at any given point of time, demonstrating that this financial transaction that has been specified under the contract, has to be enacted straight away between the two parties to the contract. Alternatively you may sell these underlying stocks while you are still holding the put options. As a result, this contract itself comes to an end. At the time of exercising a call, an owner of the option buys an underlying share at its strike price through the options seller, whilst for a put, an owner of the options will sell this underlying stock to an options seller.

In Options Trading, option exercise means to put into effect your rights to purchase an underlying stock when you are holding a call options otherwise to sell this underlying stock when you are holding a put option. Well, a Call option will give you a right to purchase an underlying stock at a specified rate whilst a put option will give you a right to sell an underlying stocks at a specified price, however that right will not occur automatically earlier than the expiration of that option. Thus, options are known in the financial language as a “Contingent Claim”. This means that a claim is considered to be contingent on its holder. Here the holder will determine whether he wishes to enforce his rights or not and this process is recognized as an “option exercise”.

Options aren’t generally exercised early because early exercise results in the surrender of time value of the holder and so it generally does not occur. Owner of the option may decide sell the call in order to capture the time value. At the same time early exercise does not really make any sense in case considerable time value is remaining.

Every investment strategy, which has been related to any investment in options, is known as a Cover Call. However on the other hand, an Options is a specific derivative that goes together with any forward contract, any futures contract, as well as any swaps and other benchmarks. Similarly like in the case of any derivative, they have a hold on an underlying asset. One of the most well-known options underlying asset is a stocks option. Here an option is referred to as a stocks option.

All the investment strategies, that are co-related to a specific investing of options, are referred to as a Cover Call.

Those of you who are new to the subject of Investment psychology might well be a little puzzled by the question.

What if I told you that knowing this information could have a major impact on how you make investment decisions and ultimately your long term success as an investor.

By the way the same goes for the traders among you, particularly if you are swing trading.

Before I delve deeper lets take a quick look at the difference between left and right brain and how it influences your decision making process:

The left brain operates in successive Hemispheric style, which basically means that it processes information in a linear fashion.

The right brain has a simultaneous hemispheric style which means it operates in a visual fashion.

The left brain plans ahead, sees things in an orderly succession, while the right brain operates in a random fashion, tends to be more impulsive and responds to emotion.

I think you can already see where this is going:

Maybe you recognise yourself as falling in one of the two groups? If so great. For those of you who do not readily recognise themselves as members of either group, maybe you are lucky and your brain is balanced, meaning that you will be much more flexible in your investment approach. This, however, is not the case for the majority of us. Most of us tend to have one predominant side of the brain from which we function.

It is in your interest to identify to which category you belong. It will assist you immensely with your investment strategies. Once you have identified which group you belong to choose a style of investment that suits your dominant brain. It will improve your investment results.

For those of you who would like to seriously improve their performance you might wan to work on balancing the left and right brain hemispheres. Meditation is not the only way to achieve this. In my work as an investment and traders’ psychology coach I have found that best and quickest results are achieved through balancing mood fluctuations.

A happy brain is more alert, able to receive more information and more balanced. Attributes much needed in today’s unpredictable and volatile investment and trading terrain. There is so much emotional content today which most investors and traders buy into without their conscious knowledge.

It is in all our interest to clear as much of the old mental triggers as possible. It gives clarity and makes for a calmer more balanced mind and, needless to say, better decisions for your portfolio too.

Many people go cold at the idea of options trading…it sounds complex, risky and of course it does take some capital investment. But if you own or are thinking of owning shares, you could be earning a monthly income right now. The covered call strategy is effective and really easy to understand and implement. Basically you are writing a contract in which you agree to sell your shares at a set price on or (in some markets) by a set date. For this agreement, you are paid a premium or income. You get to keep this income whether or not the buyer chooses to exercise their right to buy the shares off you.

In a scenario where the share price goes up, you will likely be exercised and your shares are bought from you at the agreed price irrespective of the actual price on that day. If the share price goes down and the buyer can buy the shares at market for a cheaper price, the calls will likely not be exercised. You get to keep the income and the shares and you can repeat the whole thing again the next month! In this way, you collect income from your capital investment, a bit like collecting rent from a property. Sound complicated…it really isn’t and with online brokers putting on the trades is quick and easy.

So what’s the downside? Well, owning shares always carries some element of risk. Of course the underlying value of the shares can go down as well as up and erode your capital investment? Also if the share price goes up, you may be missing out on the capital gain as you will have to sell your shares at the price agreed regardless. However, if you choose your stocks wisely, diversify across categories and put some stop losses in place to protect against a particularly badly performing stock (or buy put options), then you can mitigate your risk. If not exercised you can repeat the process month on month slowly milking your investment and compounding your investment (i.e. buying more shares with the accumulated income) for a very healthy overall return. You also have to remember that you only realize your share gains when you sell your stocks whether the covered call strategy generates actual monthly income.

In short, covered call writing is actually a pretty conservative and effective income strategy. It takes a little bit of work and knowledge investment to understand the concept and select the right stocks but once you have your formula, it can be surprisingly easy to implement.

For more information on investment strategies, returning to work after kids, interview tips, resume writing or research into legitimate ways to make income from home, please visit http://www.worklifeafterkids.com/

Most investment strategies pitch somewhere upon the continuum between a high risk / high return approach on the one end and a low risk / low return approach on the other. The problem with pursuing high investment returns, is that the capital value of investments may decrease in the short term before they increase again. The problem with conservative low-return investments is that the real value of capital may over time decrease due to inflation.

The art of investing lies in finding the approach that suits you personally best. One should on the one hand try to maximise the return on capital, but at a risk level that is acceptable to you. The question is what is regarded as acceptable risk and, is the acceptability a constant factor that stays the same under any circumstances? The answer is no. More risk is acceptable under certain circumstances, but before these circumstances are discussed, it is necessary to discuss the following terms that will be used, that are often confused:

Saving

Saving is the action of putting money aside. It means that money is not spend, but is kept at the owners disposal.

Investing

Investing means that money is handed over to a third party for purchasing assets with the purpose of long term investment growth. Investors transfer the their funds with the intention that financial assets like shares and bonds or hard assets like diamonds are bought. Investing does not mean to hand money over to dubious schemes.

Gambling

To gamble is normally understood as “to play a game for money or other stakes” like putting money on a roulette wheel or buying a lotto ticket. It can also mean to buy a share that you know nothing about or investing in a scheme you don’t understand.

Marketers of illegal schemes use the word “investing” to lure people to hand their money over to them. Initially, when “investors” receive high payouts, they think the scheme is the best investment thinkable. The fact that it has nothing to do with investment, only dawns on them when they lost all their money and it is to late to recover anything.

Speculation

Speculation means that a calculated risk are taken to make money on a relatively short term. One may for instance buy property with the purpose to sell it in a year or two at a higher price. The price of the property may not rise, but at least you have done sufficient homework to make sure that there is a high probability that it will rise.

Now that we are sure about the terms, we can look at the circumstances under which a higher risk may be appropriate.

Surplus income: The higher your surplus income, the higher the risk you should be able to handle in investing money.
Frequency of investment To invest a certain amount regularly, holds less risk than to invest a single amount at once.
Amount: If the amount you want to invest, is a small percentage of your total capital, you can accept greater risk.
Term: Greater risk can be handled with longer investment terms. Young people can therefore accept greater risk, but if the term of their financial objectives is shorter, investment portfolios should be structured less risky.
Income: If you receive an income from your investment, it should be structured more conservative with less risk. If you are not receiving an income at the moment, but plan to do so in future, you can decide to pursue a higher return till you need the income. When this happens, the investment could be restructured to reflect the new situation.
Investment experience: Investors with little investment experience should be more wary against risk than investors with lots of experience in this regard.
Dependants: Investors with more dependents should be more wary towards risk than those with few dependants.
Health: Healthy investors can handle more risk than unhealthy investors.
Diversification: An investor that already has a well diversified investment portfolio, can accept greater risk with new investments than investors with undiversified portfolios.
Timing: Share investments are normally more risky than some other investments. Investment risk can however be reduced if shares are bought when the economic cycle is on it’s lowest. Risk can also be lowered if investors buy shares of strong well established companies with little debt and healthy balance sheets.
Emotional tolerance:Some people loves the adrenaline rush in going for high returns, with no regard to the risk. They are emotionally capable of doing it this way. For other, it is a nightmare if their investment fall by a single percentage point. One should therefore know how you will respond to sudden capital depreciation.

Summary

One’s view on risk forms an extremely important element in investment planning. It is as irresponsible to take unnecessary risks as it is to be satisfied with a low return on your money. However, to pursue higher return, goes with the responsibility to research the investment opportunity thoroughly before parting with your money.

Dr. Manus J. Moolman is the CEO of My Wealth and has done extensive research on investing strategies. My Wealth is dedicated to advising anyone from average every people to professionals to choose the best investment for their risk profile.

Want to contact us? Visit our website at: http://www.myebroker.info/

Buying and selling ETFs isn’t as difficult as many people suspect. What regularly gets everyday people in trouble is going around the strategy in reverse. Most individuals rush out in to the investments and not have a strong financial savings foundation.

Investments must start off with that basis of savings for you to fall back on, any time an emergency shows up. Without the foundation, making any investment strategies is just too dicey. Think of the following as providing safety netting which will catch people in cases where their own financial situation changes or worsens. Having such a protective netting allows anybody to ignore those investments and live off of the emergency savings they have built up. This allows the invested money to do what it is supposed to do, continue to grow untouched.

Once you have built up a substantial safety net, it’s time to start putting money to work in the markets. The first thing to do is find out what exactly to invest in. There are several options to choose from like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, or possibly exchange traded funds. Each asset offers it’s good and bad points but yet a number of these investment opportunities will fit any strategies. Lets assume the person makes a decision to actually make an investment by using a blend of exchange traded funds or ETFs. It’s best to have access to a reference point around that discusses how you can acquire ETFs. Something to refer to whenever challenges surface. As they start to get more and more at ease with all the exchange traded funds info, making money through ETFs will only get easier as they move forward.

Now that they have identified that they want to invest in ETFs, it’s time to find a very good discount broker to help in making your investments. Like any company, a range of discount brokers make a specialty of out of different investing options. Having a trading account through a broker which does not specialize in exchange traded funds is actually an awful idea. A couple of remaining things to watch out for is the quality of consumer support, lower price commissions and straightforward investing software.

Great customer care is really important when it comes to a low cost brokerage service. Remember this is your hard earned cash and dealing with any kind of difficulties needs to be as quick and / or uncomplicated as possible. Sure there will probably be a couple of bumps on the way, however they need to be easily fixed through with a simple call. Keep support services under consideration long before adding your cash in any sort of trading account.

Next worth addressing is affordable commission fee costs. I’d want to save on each buy and sell order and have average trading resources instead of spending more on a simpler, easier to use software platform. This most likely is not a factor for all of us. Especially if this describes someones first time with an on-line brokerage service. First time users may wish to go the straightforward trading resources route over the most inexpensive pricing. All of this will depend upon their own experience level.

Low fees still have their relevance, though. Every instant anyone creates a transaction, it will cost money. The more transactions they make, the more cash has to be generated in order to break even. For someone that is generally more of a trader then an investor, simply finding the lowest cost brokerage service is just about the best solution. Alternatively, for anyone basically performing a handful of home-based trades every year, that individual may possibly be fine having a more expensive commission rate from a discount brokerage that provides, for instance, better analyst tools. Find a broker that matches your specific comfort level.

Lastly, investment resources. The center of each and every discount brokerage will have to be trading tools. You may not fully grasp ways to use the application the very first day, the instruction explaining ways to use the specific tools need to be readily available and simple, to help you understand. If not, than customer support should be good enough to walk you through the procedure bit by bit. If you happen to be new at all to ETF trading, take some time researching what pretty much everything actually does at first, prior to you making that first investment.

Before making your first investment in ETFs, build up a sizable emergency savings account just before jumping directly into investing your money. Once it’s accomplished it’s time to progress and create the accounts with the brokerage service. Just don’t forget customer satisfaction, affordable cost as well as good quality stock trading tools and equipment.

Michael Fredricks is a financial planner and freelance writer for personal finance sites on how to invest in ETFs and other topics. His most recent contribution was for http://novelinvestor.com.

As the real estate market fails to recover, more and more people are looking at alternative investment strategies to make some money. One of the most interesting alternatives is proving to be tax lien investing. While this may seem like a way to take advantage of the misfortune of others, it is really nothing more than grabbing opportunities to make money in an environment where this can be very challenging. If you are tired of eking out a living at a moderate paying job, this could be your ticket to financial freedom. Here are some tips you can use to increase your success.

Focus on Smaller Areas

If you constantly look for tax lien investing opportunities in major metropolitan areas, you will rarely get the kind of deal that can really make you rich. You can practice enormous volume in these areas if you have enough money, but few do when they get started. By focusing on the smaller counties, you will have much less competition, especially from investors like yourself who are bidding from outside the local area. This requires a bit more research, but the profits can make it well worth your time.

Work When Others Aren’t

One of the biggest keys to success in any field is to make sure you’re working when others are taking a break. Well, this is true in the field of tax lien investing as well. When others are taking their lunch breaks or have already left a sale because it’s late in the day, you can make your mark. Also, make inroads with the personnel. Check for liens that went unsold or for those properties that were successfully bid upon, but the bidder failed to ever come up with the money. These are common situations and they can lead to a great opportunity for anyone willing to seek them out.

Do Your Research

You will always come out ahead of the competition if you put more into your tax lien investing than others. This means doing research. It means looking at the properties in question before the auction arrives, knowing the location, and figuring out mathematically how much you can afford to spend on a particular piece. Those who go in with only their own personal budget in mind are flying by the seat of their pants. They will only make good money in this field if they happen to get lucky. You can take luck out of the equation by doing your homework.

You should consider tax lien investing as an alternative to the real estate market. Don’t let a solid opportunity pass you by, visit www.civicsource.com.

Capital Alternatives: Climate change investment strategies

Economics of the world are moving towards attaining a low carbon growth which involves reducing carbon productivity and increasing energy efficiency. The phenomenon of weather change is, scientifically, recognized as a threat to the environment, which can be reduced by controlling the emission of greenhouse gases. Today weather change is not recognized as a social responsibility but as an opportunity which can provide continued returns over the years, and institutional investors are eyeing the global climate play for diversification and secure returns. Clean energy investments rose by 5% from 2010 to 2011, and institutional investors believe weather change investments provide returns of more than 10%.

The increasing level of Greenhouse gases

The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere increased after the Industrial Revolution significantly due to increased burning of fossil fuels and urbanization, which led to the process of deforestation and changed the concentration of major greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide increased from 280 parts per million to 391 parts per million (Mauna Loa Observatory) in 2011 and it can reach the dangerous level of 500 ppm, if its emission is not reduced. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization predicted rise in food prices in the year 2012 and one of the causes for rising food prices is poor agricultural production in some parts of world due to change in global climate.

Why to invest in climate change?

Global investors are watching the carbon credit market and examining its capabilities. In a UN meeting in New York, institutional investors claimed it was a profitable area to invest. Some of the main reasons for investing in weather change are -

The value of energy efficiency market will rise to more than $500 billion by 2050 (Stern) and the demand for projects into GHG emission credits will rise to $100 billion by 2030 (UN).
More and more governments and regulators are supporting investment opportunities in weather change.
Diversified strategy of investment in environment offers secure returns.

Factors determining returns in climate change strategies

The returns in climate change strategies are determined by

Changes in policy and regulation
Forecasting and change in prices of carbon
Climate changes
Corporate responsibility
The government policies (Climate change policies are imposed either through the taxation system or the cap-and-trade regulatory system. Certain regulatory organizations provide incentives and subsidies for investment in green policies)

Why investors should invest in weather change?

Global organizations such as United Nations, regional organizations and global groups are demanding weather change initiatives.
State governments across the world are making policies to prevent weather change.
Institutional investors are interested in combining a variety of portfolios to their profile for diversification benefits.
Global and local governments are supporting investment into forestry and agriculture.

Two natural and easy ways of reducing carbon emissions

Land management (rice cultivation and planting trees) and forestry are two natural ways to reduce carbon emissions.

Forestry projects reduce the rate of destruction of natural forests and also prevent the loss of biodiversity. Primary untouched forests contain 2 times the carbon produced by secondary forests. The main challenge of forestry management – forest area density varies and it is exposed to danger of fire and destruction.

Planting trees is another way of reducing degradation of forested land and it includes either permanent managed forests or plantation for carbon exclusion. Forestation is eligible for generating project based Clean Development Mechanism credits and it requires land for forestation, and if forests are grown on land it may take 15 to 50 years to grow depending in on the soil and tree’s varieties.

Capital Alternatives options in Land management and Forestry

Capital Alternatives provides investment opportunities in weather change in forestry and land management projects located at different geographical regions of the world. Forestry projects are offered at Amazon Rainforest and Gola forests of Sierra Leone, and Land management projects are provided in Sierra Leone (rice cultivation) and Australia.

To know more about the investment opportunities, please contact – info@capitalalternatives.co.uk

This article has been written under the guidance of expertise that has the vast knowledge in alternative investment

There is a difference between being afraid to invest and be cautious. When you are considering whether or not to buy stocks, invest in ETFs or purchase mutual funds for your financial future being afraid to act does nothing but insure that you will not be successful.

Being cautious with your investments is totally different from being afraid. Caution should be part of every investment decision. But there are precise ways to exercise caution so you can be successful with your investments and grow your money.

Growing your money is what investing in the stock market is all about. If you grow your money you accomplish many key factors including:

• Less stress because your portfolio or checkboo9k is expanding
• Comfort in knowing you will have enough money to live in retirement
• Comfort in knowing you have a financial cushion if it is ever needed.
• Knowledge you can dream about big purchases or trips and they can become a reality.

So how do you invest cautiously yet with confidence and knowledge that your money will grow? A few simple premises:

• Pick a proven method of analysis to guide you in your evaluations.
• Pick a software program that enables you to invest to meet your objectives.
• Pick a software program where help from a real human being is just a quick phone call or email away.
• Back test your investment strategies or ideas to make sure they are most likely to see going down the road.
• Pick a software program that makes reading charts clear and easy.
• Pick a software program that goes beyond charts and evaluates your stocks, mutual funds or ETFs on other factors, especially in comparison to the general market and other stocks, ETFs or funds.
• Use a software program that tells you when to get out of the market and preserve your money.

If you follow these principles the fear of investing, the fear of losing, will be diminished. Will it go away completely? No. We are all human and all afraid of losing but if you invest with caution and base your decisions on solid recommendations your likelihood for success jumps dramatically.

Will you ever lose in the stock market? Yes. Not every decision, even with the best of analysis is going to turn out right. But remember that a successful baseball play is one who bats over 300 which means he gets a hit one out of three times. A successful quarterback never throws each pass for completion, just the majority. On the other hand if you can score a gain on 60% or 80% of your investments while keeping those losing choices to a bare minimum your portfolio, your checkbook is going to see substantial growth.

You can see substantial investment success if you follow these key principles.

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

When it comes to making long range investment goals for your future many first time investors want to jump in head first without having any prior knowledge of what they are doing. Eventually and unfortunately many of these investors never become successful investors and usually just give up. Investing in itself does require some level of skill and it takes time coupled with your ability to learn.

It is important to understand and remember that every investment that you make is not a sure thing in itself. There is always a the risk of losing money. However, your risk can be minimize if you take the time to learn and know when to take a loss and run! Before you dive in head first it is imperative to not only find out more how the investment game works, but to determine what your investment goals are.

The questions that you should ask yourself before taking the plunge are, what are the reasons that you are investing. Are you investing for long term or short term reasons? What are you trying to achieve with your investments? Are you investing for your children college education? Your retirement? A vacation? Buying your first home, etc? Before you part with a single red penny, think about these questions and write down what you hope to achieve by investing. Knowing what your long and short range goals are will help you make smarter and wiser investment decisions for you and your family.

All too often people invest their money with pipe dreams of becoming an overnight millionaire. I have been there too! I am quite sure that it has happen for a few people, but overall those types of opportunities are rare indeed. It is not a very good idea to start your investment portfolio with unrealistic dreams and goals of becoming rich overnight. It is always best to invest your hard earned money in such a way that it will increase slowly and safely over time where it can therefore be used for a child’s education or your retirement, etc.

Another strongly advised decision would be to talk with a financial planner before you make an investment. A financial planner can guide you in the right direction and help you determine the type of investments that you are looking for that will help you reach your financial goals that you have set. He/She can give you a realistic overview of the type of returns that you can expect and how long it will take to reach your specified goals.

Again, remember that investing for your future will take time and effort and your willingness to learn. Never entrust your financial and investment future to someone else. You must also do your due diligence and learn investment strategies for yourself as well. It will take your delving into and doing your research and acquiring knowledge about the stock market and other types of investments if you hope for your investments to be successfully.

M. Cunningham Is the owner and webmaster of Investment Top Tips. You will find lots of information and investment advice and tips plus loads of FREE products.

Click here to learn more about the basics of investing at…. http://www.investmenttoptips.com