Investment Articles

Many of you are expecting me to say that now, given the economy, the administration, unemployment and other factors, it is a high risk time to invest. The opposite is actually true – now is a relatively low risk time to invest in quality assets and here’s why:

There is a significant difference between feeling safe and actually being safe. One can feel safe because one actually is safe, but one can also feel safe by ignoring facts, pursuing a completely selfish agenda, from lack of careful thinking and consideration, as a result of overrun emotions, sickness, and/or lack of rest or nourishment. One can only be safe when one is actually safe – it’s the only option as it pertains to the latter.

This is important because many people feel safe when they are doing the same thing(s) lots of other people are also doing. Whether or not the crowd is actually correct, “there is safety in numbers” goes the old saying. While this is true in football and armed conflict, it is largely false when it comes to investing. The riskiest time to invest is when the majority thinks it’s safe. The safest time to invest is when the majority considers conditions too risky.

In other words, the times when investing safety exists to the greatest extent is not when the most people are actually investing. Consequently when one sees the markets rising every day by greater and greater margins (obviously not happening right now) that is the most perilous time to invest. When most people are worried, well that’s a pretty good sign of safety.

The best time, the lowest risk point, and the safest time to invest in quality companies is when there is a tremendous amount of worry and uncertainty – in other words when most people FEEL UNSAFE.

Unemployment is currently unusually high. Is that normal or abnormal? Obviously abnormally high. If it were normal what would the economy look like? Substantially better – because more people would be buying things, more people would be investing, etc. Since things run in cycles, what is the next phase in the cycle of unemployment? The next phase is improvement. How does that impact investments? Very positively.

Yes, but what about inflation? Aren’t we going to soon have high inflation? We only have inflation when too many people are spending too much money chasing too few goods and services. How can we have high inflation when so many people are not working? We can’t. And even if we do have high inflation, this condition is excellent for some investments that just might surprise you.

What about the administration? In every situation there are opportunities to make money. This will be the case regardless of which party is in office.

What about interest rates? While interest rates are likely to rise from the current rate of essentially zero, rates are going to remain low until we have inflation, and even then, given the amount of government debt in the U.S., interest rates are just as likely to stay abnormally low as anything else, because it saves the government vast amounts of interest payments.

Millions of people loose money in the investment markets for no other reason than they invest when they feel safe, instead of investing when they are safe. What has been your pattern?

Have you acted on nonsensical rules like dollar cost averaging and asset allocation which have you investing in the wrong things, at the wrong times? These principles have you investing completely off cycle to when it is actually safe to invest. Isn’t it about time that you got on cycle and made money in your investments?

Get started investing now before the economy completely rights itself and it is too late.

Last year was a very difficult one for Russia. The currency depreciated, GDP contracted, and the Treasury ran the budget with a deficit and depleted the Reserve Fund by more than half. Unsurprisingly, since then and up until recently, the consensus outlook for Russia ranged from gloomy to cautious. My interpretation of what was occurring in the Russian economy is a bit different – since early 2009, after the government and the Central Bank devalued the currency and brought the ruble to more of an equilibrium level, money markets began recovering. In previous notes, I mentioned that the slow devaluation orchestrated by the Central Bank may have helped a few major companies and banks avoid financial problems, but this also destabilized money markets and created problems for the entire economy, as by printing rubles and lending them to select banks (while gradually devaluing the currency) the Central Bank encouraged speculation against the ruble. Money stopped circulating and began flowing directly to the forex market. After the Central Bank was finished with these exercises, the situation gradually stabilized, so that money demand started to rise and the economy began recovering.

That said, my view was always that the bottom was reached in January 2009 (or more broadly, in 1Q09) and thereafter m-o-m (and Q-o-Q) recovery was sustainable (even though y-o-y numbers remained negative for some time due to the base effect – as cheap credit artificially inflated domestic demand in 2006-08). The most recent industrial output figures fully confirm this view – industry grew by more than 10% y-o-y in 5m10, consumption eventually delivered positive y-o-y growth, and investment also entered positive growth territory.

It is remarkable how Russia’s performance this year looks healthier than that in many other countries, as economic expansion is being driven largely by private money since public spending was not growing y-o-y in early 2010 and is not supposed to grow significantly for the year as a whole. The government’s recent decision (approved by the Duma last week) to amend the 2010 budget and increase expenditures by over R300 bln does not alter this view much, even though it raises concerns about the possibility of future amendments. Indeed, the fact that the economy delivered very strong results in 1H10 without any additional government stimulus means that additional government spending is (and always was) useless, if not harmful, as it only helped maintain high inflation and never stimulated growth, while this year inflation decelerated to below 6%.

Overall, the Russian economy appeared rather flexible and showed a strong ability to grow after the government was forced to scale back its intervention. Firm growth this year is being driven by organic, not overheated, domestic demand, so that the system seems able to find a sort of balance in various respects, such as an equilibrium exchange rate, investment/GDP ratio and rate of growth in consumption. In the past, the government always tried to pull the system out of this equilibrium, thereby creating various distortions.

Meanwhile, the Russian government was not alone in its efforts to generate imbalances – other governments have done similar things while increasing their economic intervention over the past decade (not to mention some of the European governments or the US administration, which slashed rates after 2001 and expanded the budget deficit). My view has always been that governments are primarily to blame for the current global economic turmoil. The private sector simply responded organically to the populist moves that regulators in the advanced economies exercised over the past decade. Economic populism in the advanced economies combined with a number of politically motivated decisions was the source of the current crisis. Cheap money encouraged excessive risk taking, while redistribution of wealth in the EU reduced the competitiveness of the region’s economy. Eventually, excessive spending resulted in excessive borrowing. Increased military spending in major countries also contributed to economic distortions. Debt/GDP ratios in many countries exceeded the “critical” 60% and even climbed to 100% or more. Needless to say, debt service is now becoming a major impediment to growth worldwide.

Despite the very negative media coverage that Russia “enjoyed” last year, the country is largely immune from such problems. The major macroeconomic risk is associated with the excessive dependence of the budget on the oil price – I broached this issue in the past, suggesting that with the break even price of oil staying at around $95/bbl, there is no other way for the government to proceed, apart from containing (ideally cutting) spending. Otherwise, the country enjoys a positive current account surplus, while its budget deficit will stay this year at around 3% of GDP or even less (Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin mentioned that the federal budget deficit was only 2.4% of GDP in 1H10, which is quite encouraging even though still an estimate, as the official budget execution numbers and GDP statistics for 1H10 have yet to be released). The country’s total external debt/GDP ratio last year stayed below 40%, and it will be closer to 30% this year – a very manageable level.

Overall, despite numerous institutional drawbacks, Russia’s macroeconomic conditions look solid and much better compared with all of the former Soviet republics (including the Baltic states). Russia’s GDP per capita was the highest among all of the republics of the former USSR (excluding the Baltics), while its total external debt/GDP ratio (private and public debt) was moderate. Even though GDP per capita in the Baltic states was higher last year, it is clear that this wealth was largely borrowed (another illustration of the geopolitically motivated decision in favor of accelerated accession of those countries to the Eurozone). Unsurprisingly, growth is not expected in these countries this year, while Russia’s GDP per capita will return to more than $10,000 (I expect around $10,600). The relatively low debt/GDP ratio will allow the Russian economy to grow faster compared with many over-indebted countries, including those in the periphery of the Eurozone.

It is remarkable that Russia’s GDP per capita stayed higher than in many other former Soviet countries, despite the fact that Russia for years continued subsidizing countries such as Belarus and Ukraine through discounted energy prices. Only a few countries out of the 15 former Soviet republics were able to increase their GDP per capita in 2009 over the 1991 level. Aside from Russia, this group included energy-rich Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan (and even in the case of the last two, the difference was not significant).

The wealthy countries became even wealthier after the breakup of the Soviet Union, while republics with lower income became poorer (again, this refers to the Baltic countries, which had a higher GDP per capita in the USSR and were able to “upgrade” their GDP per capita thanks to borrowing and subsidies from the EU). Even though “upgrades” in Russia and Kazakhstan were based on natural resources, they looked more organic compared with those countries that borrowed extensively and which are now supposed to repay debts that exceed 100% of GDP. Interestingly, the population has fallen by 11-17% in the Baltic countries since 1991, due largely to emigration, which helped inflate per capita GDP. In Russia, the population contracted less, by 4.4%, while in Central Asian countries, populations have risen significantly, which has reduced GDP per capita. Meanwhile, in the entire FSU region, the population contracted by a modest 2%, while dollar-denominated GDP increased by around 1.8%, i.e. both numbers remained essentially unchanged over nearly two decades, while redistribution of income took place.

The data also illustrate who eventually subsidized whom in the past – after the Soviet republics became independent, Russia benefited more with respect to its GDP per capita. From this standpoint, speculation regarding the Kremlin’s intention to spread its influence across the former Soviet republics should take into account the economic costs of such a policy. At a relatively low level of GDP per capita (by international, not regional, standards), it seems as though Russia is unable and unwilling to play the same consolidating role that Germany plays in the Eurozone by redistributing its nearly $200 bln current account surplus across the region.

Jeffrey F. Combs, 54, MBA, a veteran of Wall Street (Morgan, Stanley; Lehman Brothers) has been living and investing in Russia since 1995. He is a frequent speaker at Investment Conferences, and considered to be an authority on the Russian and CIS investment markets.

Wine has been giving investors a healthy return on investment for a long time, it has out performed the stock market for three consecutive decades and can achieve a return of investment of up to 30%, there are however a few steps you will need to make before getting into the world of fine wine investment.

Step 1. Find a reputable wholesale wine merchant that knows the investment market – it is important that they can offer free advice and have an inside out knowledge of different wines suitable for investment.

Step 2. Make sure that your merchant offers free storage for the duration of your investment in bonded warehouses which you are aloud to visit at any time during your ownership of the wine.

Step 3. When choosing the types of wines to invest in try and keep in within the Bordeaux variety unless your an experienced expert, as 90% of the investment market is in these types of wine, there is suitable liquidity and growth potential.

Step 4. Make sure that you are happy with your portfolio selection and your merchant before making any buying decision

Step 5. Make sure you have an exit strategy, most people do not keep wine for more than 5 years as this is usually the optimum time to sell it if you where planning for a long term investment, but there is nothing stopping you from selling it sooner, It would be wise to keep it for at least 1 year to get a decent return.

Summary:

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The Sunday times has been running the “Sunday Times Wine Club” for quite some time now, for the savvy investor it is a wealth of information about new trends in the wine market and can be used to tern a profit for both long term and short term investments in wine. If you’re new to investing in wine, then it is best to stick with the Bordeaux wines as this counts for up to 90% of the investor market, and has more liquidity if you where to decide to cash in your investment.

The minimum time frame people usually look at investing in fine wines is 1 year though 5 years is considered the maximum about of time for a long term investment, you can see returns of up to 30% a year from your portfolio.

Before investing in any wine it is best to get expert advice on what wines are likely to make high yielding investments, any wholesale wine merchant that supplies for the investment market should have a good idea on what’s hot at the moment but a bit of knowledge yourself can never hurt.

Wine is certainly less volatile than the stock market, and has out performed the FTSE 100 for three consecutive decades with lack of interest form investment bankers and hedge funds due to the small size of the wine market this has allowed it to remain open for normal investors to profit from.

Wine has become increasingly popular in the alternative investment market and continues to grow, the main reason is that there is solid demand for the product outside the investor market which means the prices are help purely from speculation like you may find with stocks and shares.

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Wine has provided some fantastic returns for investors over the last couple of years, and has out performed the stock market for three decades giving investors a return of up to 30%! But there are some things you should know before you consider before investing in wine.

1) Make sure you go with a company that can offer free advice and has good understanding of the market, the most important thing when building a wine portfolio is spread the investment across different wines any company that is not able to give free advice would probably be best to avoid.

2) Make sure they offer free storage in bonded warehouses, any good wine merchant offering wine as an investment should offer free storage included in the price for the duration of your planned investment (usually 5 years max) any company that wishes to charge you extra for this service is short changing you on your investment.

3) Keep your portfolio within the Bordeaux wines if you are not an expert as this is where 90% of the investment market gravitates towards, anything outside of this could leave you open to unnecessary risk.

4) Make sure that the company that arranges and stores the wine for you allows you to visit the bonded warehouses to see your wine in person, any company that does not allow you to do this I would avoid.

5) Make sure the company arraigning the investment has the ownership of the wine in your name rather than being like a fund, this way it gives you the security of owning a tangible assets and insulates you from any financial troubles they may have as an organisation.

6) Make sure you have an exit strategy, although you can sell your wine at any time it usually best not to hold onto it any longer than 5 years, make sure you know when you are going to cash in and plan accordingly.

Summary:

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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.

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The longer one is involved in the investment sector the more you realise that being a successful investor is 20% market nous and 80% avoiding stupid mistakes. As legendary investor Warren Buffett put it; “investing is simple, not easy”.

With that in mind, Hhere are some of the more common potholes that continue to trip up investors.

Having unrealistic expectations
Shares have been the best performing investment over the past 60-70 years and have returned around 10% a year. During periods when inflation is low and rising returns tend to be more like 8% a year.

Investors gunning for returns of 15% plus will have to take huge risks to get there by putting all their money on a few shares or properties, or by using debt to gear their portfolio. The higher return you aim for, the higher the chances that you fail. As they say, aiming for the moon can mean you end up in a black hole.

Falling for con artists
There are many unsavoury characters out there that play on people’s gullibility and greed by offering unrealistic returns. Do not get sucked in. If it sounds to good to be true, it will be. I have seen return projections of 20%, 50% and even 150% a year offered to investors. Such returns are complete nonsense. They simply defy the laws of gravity. Consider $100,000 invested today and earning 50% a year. If you manage to earn this return every year you will be a billionaire in 23 years. You will then overtake Bill Gates as the world’s richest person after 35 years. Do you really think this is going to happen? High returns are simply unsustainable over long periods of time and the people offering them are guessing, at best.

Putting too much emphasis on market predictions
Within the investment industry there is an army of very smart investment analysts,economists, strategists and fund managers all getting paid to eyeball markets and come up with the next best investment idea.

Although this research is usually very interesting, and often backed up with very nice colour coded charts, much of the time it is wrong. What trips up all of these experts is not their analysis, but the fact that they are dealing with future events. The future is 100% unpredictable and even the most robust research can be proved worthless by a completely unforeseen event.

Smart investors recognise that nobody can predict the future direction of investment markets and that it is dangerous to put too much stock in such predictions.

Following the crowd
Investors have a fatal habit of chasing what’s hot. Unfortunately, past performance has no bearing on future performance and in fact, last year’s winners can often end up as next year’s wooden spooners.

Lack of balance
The biggest investment tragedies happen when people have their portfolio excessively concentrated on one investment, or one investment sector. The golden rule of investment is to have a good spread of investments across the main sectors; cash, bonds, shares, property and overseas investments.

Fees
This four-letter word has spelled disaster for generation after generation of investors who put their faith in such traditional savings products like whole of life policies and super schemes.

The costs involved with these funds have decimated returns leaving almost nothing for the investor.

Fees are arguably the biggest threat to an investor’s long-term returns. For instance, a super fund that earns 8.0% on its portfolio will have management fees of at least 1.5% then deducted then tax of 2.0%. Take off another 1.5% for advisory fees and 2.5% for inflation the investor at the end of the food chain is left with a return of just 0.5%. Reduce fees by investing directly into markets wherever possible.

Cam Watson is the Chief Investment Officer for ABN AMRO Craigs, which is one of New Zealand’s largest independent investment firms. He has over 18 years experience in the financial services industry. For eleven years Cam has been employed with ABN AMRO Craigs, becoming Chief Investment Officer in 2007.

Cam holds a Bachelor of Arts Degree and a New Zealand Stock Exchange (NZX) Diploma. He has been a member of the NZX since 2001 and has a current Sharebroker Licence. As with all ABN Amro Craigs Investment Advisors, Cam is required to maintain continuous internal performance modules, covering topics such as industry and regulatory developments. He also has the support and resources of ABN AMRO Craigs global research network. http://www.abnamrocraigs.com/

One of the most profitable investment solutions for an accredited investor is the almighty Pre IPO, seed capital opportunity. Though extremely profitable this transaction is not for the non accredited or amateur investor. The risks are numerous such as how long it will take the company to achieve it’s symbol, post public market creation and investor relations, corporate publicity, SEC audit and the ‘C’ level executives’ professional pedigree just to name a few.

But when one takes all of this into consideration it is ideal to team up with a brokerage or consulting firm who specializes in the task of corporate strategies and IPOs. When a motivated and seasoned investor aligns himself/herself with a solid firm with who has access to IPO’s it can be an extremely profitable venture and one of the few win/win situations in the investment industry.

Having access to a steady stream of Pre IPOs allows an investor to diversify in highly sought after and deeply discounted seed stock and also creates a rewarding solution for the IPO facilitators as they are raising capital and qualifying the company for it’s offering.

There are a few things that an investor should consider when seeking a strategic alliance with an IPO facilitator: how long on average does it take the firm to complete a transaction from S1 to Symbol? What does the post public Investor Relations strategy look like to create the market? Do they have a market maker or broker dealer ready to sponsor the stock? What does the client company’s executive staff, business model, board of directors and strategic partnerships look like? And who is doing the pre IPO audit on the client company?

These are just a few things to consider when finding stepping out to get involved with the much sought after pre IPO investment market.

The author of this article is not a broker dealer or licensed securities agent and one should always seek the consultation of a licensed agent before getting involved with an investment of any kind. This article is for information purposes only.

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Who wouldn’t want to get trading secrets to profit from the investment markets? Most people would jump on the chance to learn the keys to generating outstanding profits from trading. The real question is whether or not experts really have well guarded methods, strategies and systems.

Many traders do have access to certain techniques that have given them tremendous gains. The truth though is that there really is no silver bullet or holy grail that will instantly and easily generate a steady trading cash flow. Moreover, there is no perfect entry indicator that can help you detect winning deals. In other words, there is absolutely no chance that you will find a trading secret that can make money for you with very little time and effort. If there was one, then you can be sure that someone would have already heard about it and made it public.

It is therefore safe to say that you need to work hard if you want to see great results. This doesn’t mean though that you can’t use tools to help reduce your stress levels. You don’t need to break your back trying to learn trading and attempting to profit from it. With that said, it will be worth your time to take a glimpse of the true keys to trading success.

The genuine trading secret that successful traders use is a trading system. Every successful investor has one. In most cases, this, plus a logical, disciplined trading psychology, is all you really need to earn boatloads from the investment market of your choice.

So what is a trading system and how can you get one? In simple terms it is a plan that will guide you as you make crucial trading decisions. It isn’t similar to regular business plans but the purpose is the same. It is what can give structure, logic and meaning to every choice you make. Hence, good plans help you trade in a disciplined and confident manner. Of all the so-called trading secrets it is only a trading system that eliminates the danger of trading with emotions.

You can easily come across a variety of systems these days. Many come from experts who have truly made thousands or even millions with them. Because these materials are very accessible, a lot of folks are tempted to just use them straight out of the box. This may or may not work for you. Always consider that every existing system was made based on the maker’s specific personality, trading style and risk tolerance level. Since these personal elements remain the foundation of all great systems, it’s possible that some plans are simply not applicable to you.

A related trading secret that you need to remember is that many of the top earners use custom systems. You will therefore most likely stand to gain more if you channel some of your resources into developing and testing a system that fits you to a tee. This involves asking yourself who you are as a trader, what your goals are and what kind of losses you can endure.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Here are the ground rules for successful investing:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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